Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, says suspended Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara is now seeking peace, but warned that words alone won’t heal the deep political rift between them.
Speaking during a media chat with select journalists in Abuja on Monday, May 12, Wike revealed that Fubara, accompanied by two governors and an elder statesman, recently visited him in a reconciliatory effort.
“The President has called for peace severally and I cannot sit down when the President has called for peace and I say, ‘I don’t want peace’,” Wike said.
“Yes, he came with two governors and one elder person. Unfortunately, the two governors are APC governors. So, I will not pursue him. He said he wants peace. That’s fine. I also want peace.”
Their long-running feud had plunged Rivers into political chaos earlier this year. The fallout reached a tipping point when President Bola Tinubu suspended Fubara, the Rivers House of Assembly, and Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu.
Tinubu later appointed a state administrator to take charge for six months, a move that drew mixed reactions nationwide.
While Fubara’s visit signals a desire to mend fences, Wike says it must be matched with genuine effort, especially considering the protests and public statements still coming from the governor’s camp.
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“I told him, ‘Look, I don’t think you have the capacity to really make this peace.’ That’s why when I read what I read yesterday, I felt so bad,” Wike said.
“Why? If you are making peace, your people are demonstrating every day; if you are making peace, your people are busy on television insulting people. How do you feel in that case?”
For peace to be real, Wike insists, Fubara must go beyond symbolic gestures. “You must take steps. Have you met the assembly people? There are leaders you should meet. It is not to say, ‘I want peace.’ You must show it by conduct and action.”
Wike also suggested that the young governor was swayed by external influence in the early stages of the crisis, people who have now seemingly stepped back.
“Governors came pushing him, where are they now? I think the governors are enjoying their own,” he said.
“Fubara is a young man, I warned him saying, look, go this way, go this way and you will not have problems.”
As Rivers State continues to navigate its political storm, Wike’s message was clear: reconciliation must be backed by meaningful, visible steps, not just words.