The Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker Committee in Rivers, Chief Tony Okocha, has blamed the protracted political crisis in the state on struggle for political structures by some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) big wigs.
Okocha, while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja, also attributed the crisis to the unhealthy relationship between the Gov. Siminalayi Fubara and members of the state House of Assembly.
While describing the seemingly unending crisis in the state as centrifugal, the APC chairman said the internal wrangling came to a head under Fubara.
According to him, while Nyesom Wike, the state’s immediate past governor, was in the saddle, the state used to be known as construction sites.
He said that Wike, now the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, was working day and night, building bridges and developing other infrastructure across the state, thereby receiving accolades from the state and beyond.
“Unfortunately for Wike, he introduced into the political scene somebody he felt was a confidant who is today the state governor.
“He (Fubara) was never in politics. He was a civil servant all his life and Wike catapulted him from deputy director to director of finance and administration, and directed that he be posted to the Government House.
“He was later made the Chief of Staff and was promoted a few months later to permanent secretary, Government House, in charge of finance, and was later made the Accountant-General.
“Fubara was never in politics; he was just a routine civil servant, but for whatever reason, Wike felt he should hand over to a confidant as it is the practice by Nigerian politicians,” he said.
Okocha further stated that Wike was able to sell Fubara to Rivers people and spoke for him all through the political campaigns, apparently because he (Fubara) didn’t know what to say before before the people of the state.
He said that Fubara had never been a councillor or local government chairman, adding that his first stint in politics was the highest office in the state (governor) because Wike was there for him.
The APC chairman added that ahead of his election, Fubura feigned loyalty and humility, submitting himself to Wike, which turned out to be a decoy to get what he wanted from him.
According to Okocha, three months after assuming office as governor, Fubara was convinced by some politicians opposed to Wike to build his own political structures because of their own selfish reasons.
This, he said, brought the state to its current political crisis as Fubara, in his bid to build his own political structure, was destroying Wike’s already established structure.
He explained that while Wike could be linked to the political crisis in Rivers, the issue, in the real sense, was the state governor versus the state lawmakers and the struggle for political structure, which, he said, was needed by every politician to succeed.
“What sustains every politician in the field is a strong political structure and Wike could not sit and watch his political structure, which produced Fubara and some members of the state assembly, destroyed.
“Fubara constituted a clog in the wheel of Wike’s political structure and was dismantling it, which Wike couldn’t take.
“The reason we are having Rivers in the news for bad reasons is because the state governor is fighting himself,” he said.
Speaking on the Federal High Court’s dismissal of a suit seeking to replace the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers, Okocha said “Fubara is the chief law officer of the state and also the chief law breaker.
“He chooses which court order to obey and the one not to obey. And when you continue to do that, it is an invitation to anarchy.
“He is the one that brought ant-infected firewood to his own house and now, lizards are feasting on it,” he said.
Okocha stated that Fubura remained Wike’s political investment in Rivers, adding, therefore, that the former governor would not allow him to destroy the political structures he had built over the years. (NAN)
