Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has insisted that Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, was part of every decision leading to the conduct of the recent local government elections in the state.
Wike, who spoke on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, dismissed claims that the polls, held under the state of emergency, were carried out without the governor’s input.
The elections were conducted on August 30 by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), supervised by Ibok-Ete Ibas, the sole administrator appointed by President Bola Tinubu during the emergency rule.
However, Governor Fubara and his supporters boycotted the exercise.
Reacting to the boycott, Wike disclosed that he personally visited the governor’s residence at 1 a.m. to discuss the elections.
“The governor wanted to come and see me. I said, ‘No, you’re the governor.’ I drove to his house at 1 a.m. to ask, ‘Your Excellency, what do we do?’ There was nothing done without the governor’s knowledge,” Wike said.
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The former Rivers governor explained that Fubara had informed him beforehand that he would not be present on election day due to a family commitment involving his son.
He added that the governor travelled out of the state before the polls.
Wike also accused critics of spreading falsehoods about the political crisis in Rivers.
“People just sit somewhere and talk about things they know nothing about. Many were expecting a settlement to come with money, but unfortunately, that’s no longer the case,” he said.
The elections were largely won by the All Progressives Congress (APC), while Fubara, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), suffered defeat in his own local government area.