Port Harcourt, Rivers state – Adamu Garba, a former presidential hopeful, on Tuesday night, March 18, asked President Bola Tinubu to suspend Nyesom Wike, the minister of the federal capital territory (FCT).
Legit.ng reports that Garba’s call comes amid the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu, and lawmakers in the oil-rich state’s house of assembly.
The Nigerian leader cited the prolonged political crisis and governance paralysis in the oil-rich state.
Reacting to the presidential announcement, Garba, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), wrote on his verified X (formerly Twitter) account:
“Fubara suspended, Wike should be suspended too to balance the equation.”
Legit.ng reports that minister Wike and Governor Fubara have been locked in a protracted fight over the control of the political structures in Rivers state, which initially split the state house of assembly into two factions.
In December 2023, Tinubu brokered a peace deal between Messrs Wike and Fubara to end the crises in the south-southern state, but the peace deal later collapsed.
In his comment in October 2024, Fubara had blamed Wike’s allies for the collapse of the peace deal.
The governor had claimed that his opponent outsmarted him by failing to withdraw a lawsuit challenging his presentation of the 2024 budget to four lawmakers, saying that he later discovered that his opponents ambushed him.
But during a recent thanksgiving service and grand civic reception held by the people of Kalabari in honour of Wike, the minister blamed Fubara for the collapse of the peace deal.
Organised by Ijaw leaders under the aegis of the New Associates, the civic reception was held in Abalama, a town in Asari-Toro local government area (LGA) of Rivers state.
During the event, Wike accused Fubara of reneging on the peace deal brokered by Tinubu, adding that Fubara’s actions showed the governor was not reliable.
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