The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has likened the political conflict in Rivers State to a family dispute that would be resolved.
He told a delegation of South-South leaders in his office on Tuesday that the crisis was a party affair without an ethnic undertone.
“In politics, there are a lot of internal wranglings. That does not mean that in (that) internal wranglings, they will not settle within their family. But to come out to say, oh, they want to do this against the Ijaw. That's very wrong,” he said.
“We should ask questions: what happened that we got to this point? Then you can be in a position to know the simple truth. Our party is doing great. That’s what I will say,” he told his visitors.
“Everybody shall have his own interest; every politician. That is where I will stop. I don’t want to go into details. But, let us just know that all of us are one.”
The former Rivers State governor downplayed allegations that he was demanding a percentage of the state’s financial allocation be sent to him.
The political crisis in Rivers State is believed to have stemmed from a battle of political supremacy between Wike and the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
The FCT minister was instrumental in Fubara’s emergence as governor, but they are believed to have fallen out over undisclosed reasons.
Some political analysts have accused the minister of masterminding the impeachment proceedings against Governor Fubara at the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Wike is yet to respond to that allegation but told the visiting South-South leaders that no politician would allow his support base to be threatened.
“Will you allow anybody to just cut you out immediately? Everybody has a base. Is it not true? If you take my base, am I not politically irrelevant?” he asked.
“At the appropriate time, we will know who is right and we will know who is wrong.”
