Wike not fighting Fubara, says Bob
Solomon Bob is a member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State. He represents Abua/Odual and Ahoada East Federal Constituency. In this interview with NICHOLAS KALU, he discusses the feud between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, and other issues
There appears to be a turf war between Governor Siminalayi Fubura and his predecessor, the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike. What is your take on the situation?
First, there’s no turf war. The governor’s behaviour is outrageous; he is promoting division and primordial ethnic sentiments. Then, it seems that maybe his entire article of faith in government is to destroy his benefactor. There’s no turf war. Nyesom Wike, is a politician. He didn’t make Fubara governor to have himself annihilated. He didn’t make this man governor to be killed thereafter. He’s taking steps to protect himself from being killed. This one looks like Frankenstein’s monster that wants to devour his maker. So, there’s no turf war. Nyesom Wike is a man of extreme generosity. And you saw that in making this man governor. A key part of integrity is gratitude. You cannot go after anyone who has helped you in life with a kind of mysterious animosity. We have seen what Fubara demonstrated against Nyesom Wike. What you are seeing today all over the country in terms of people saying negative things about Nyesom Wike are elements sponsored by him. No turf war. He did not make him governor to retire from politics. Nyesom Wike is a young man. He’s 57. How old is Fubara? Fubara is nearly 50. About seven years between them. So, Nyesom Wike is too old to leave the government? Why is Fubara who is almost 50 still in government? So, he didn’t make him governor to be killed or to exit politics. No. To make somebody governor of a state like Rivers, you would have entered into enormous IOUs, because it is a herculean task. We all know the trouble he went through because Fubara was essentially an unsellable, unmarketable kind of guy. You guys have seen that. You’ve seen the meaning of his life. I’m sure you’ve seen that. You’ve seen his attitude, body language, ability to express himself, and the way he conducts himself. Nobody saw this. Nyesom Wike is a man of extreme generosity. People going after him in the media are doing so for reasons that, if you let me, I can explain to you. Okay, so, If Wike doesn’t want him, why would he make him governor? It’s just that the man, as I told you, has engaged in outrageous behaviour. Nobody ever imagined that. Have you ever seen a governor come into office, and then within two weeks or a month, start to go after? And he’s not somebody who has any kind of political stature. If he had a political stature of your own, maybe you can say, okay, maybe he’s trying to protect what he had before. But he has zero political stature. He could never have won a local government chairmanship, even from a small local government chairmanship. He could not have won. It’s not possible. Then they exhume you from that kind of anonymity, and obscurity, and then put you, thrust you in a big place in the limelight. And the first thing you do is to say, I want to kill this man. The man has the right, like I said, self-preservation is everyone’s right. He has the right to protect himself. So it’s not a turf war.
Besides the Rivers State crisis, Wike is also involved in what is happening in the PDP. Though he belongs to the PDP, he is in alliance with the APC and has been accused of perpetrating a crisis in the party. What’s your comment on this?
No, Wike is not perpetrating a crisis in the PDP. He is a firefighter. Let me use the definition of an arsonist. He’s a firefighter, not an arsonist. He puts out fire. He doesn’t burn down places. He’s a builder, not a destroyer. That’s my point to you. Nigerians like to latch on to mere symbols and symptoms. They don’t like to go deep. Wike has been the mainstay, the builder, the protector, and the power behind PDP all these years. If you want to look at recent events that led to where we are now, you cannot overlook the events leading up to the 2023 elections and immediately thereafter. You cannot go beyond that. The party led by Dr Iyorchia Ayu at that time was engaged in an egregious and daring display of disobedience to the party’s own rules. Many things happened. This includes what happened before the primaries, after the primaries and the election. Who gives that? Who gives that point? You have obstructed the party zoning its presidential ticket to the south. You have manipulated the primaries to an outcome that you wanted. No problem. But party chairmanship, which had been agreed previously before the primaries, that if the candidate emerges from the North, party chairmanship at the national level would go to the South. They are aware of that agreement. They said no. These are absolutists, these maximalists. People who don’t want to do that. They have no policy about negotiation. Wike’s demand was the bare minimum. Let’s go back to the agreement we had. Hasn’t the ticket emerged from the North? What should have happened? Let’s go back to what we agreed upon. The party’s chairmanship position was supposed to go to the South. They said no; it’s not going to happen. All of them, all of these things that they were doing were just to get at one man: Wike. The entire crisis in the PDP is about how just to deal with Wike. You can’t set up a structure to deal with one man alone. All their hirelings are everywhere in the media and the so-called civil society groups. They are all there. When they speak, we know where they are coming from. A lot of them have met me. You see, Wike is a force of nature. Let me tell you. Wike has done a lot for this country; there are not many people in this country who can match his ability to see far ahead.
We have seen the manifestation of the Rivers crisis, even in the House of Representatives because we have a group of lawmakers that are pro-Fubara. Don’t you think so?
Who are the lawmakers? There is only one; one person. I can tell you that.
What about its effect on the Rivers State’s Caucus in the House of Reps?
Yes, of course. It’s normal. In politics, generally, there will only be a few persons. For some reasons. I don’t want to deprecate or insult anyone. But they follow their mind to do what they want to do. All of them, by exception, were all beneficiaries of Wike’s enormous generosity. This is because they would not have got their ticket without his assistance. I can assure you that some of them have broken so many rules. Wike is a man of extraordinary generosity. But, I’m telling you; he doesn’t know how to keep enemies. Maybe that’s his fault. Maybe that’s his fault in his character. He doesn’t keep enemies. You fight him to the death the next day. If the next day he survives you, then he calls you. You don’t have enemies. In politics, it’s not always like that. But sometimes, don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to be kidding about enemies. I’m a very easygoing person. But as I said, if you cross the Rubicon, I’m not going to get you back to my innermost recesses. Wike will take you right down to the innermost recesses. That’s who he is. He’s a man of extremely generous spirits. You guys have seen him from afar. We know him. He’s a man who is always forgiving. He’s forgiving, always, and forbearing. So that’s the point. Back to your point; in the House of Reps, if you have people that are somewhere else, of course, we are with Wike. The majority of us are with Wike. We are about 27 or 28 now. Then one moved to become the governor’s chief of staff. I have only three. It’s not a turf war. No one can contest with him in River State, as I speak to you. Wike has been a grassroots man all his life. He is one person who will stay here and name all the major components in all the wards in the River States. All the wards. He will name them. He knows everybody. He knows everybody.
What is your assessment of Wike’s stewardship as the minister of FCT, against the background that critics have accused him of grabbing land, and destroying properties?
You see, these are populist arguments by self-appointed activists, civil rights activists, who rather than chasing substance are chasing shadows. Whose land has he grabbed? Has he told you whose land he has grabbed? For himself or for whom? No. He has come here to bring order and sanity. Within eight, or nine months of the appointment, he turned Abuja around. Everybody can see it. Before Wike, who had the guts to do what, I mean, not just the guts, and the know-how to do what he had done? This is concerning both internal infrastructure and administration. Since FCT’s inception, do we have FCT civil service? Was there an FCT civil service? They had none. He came and within a short time, he did it. You have your own now. You have civil servants. You can rise to the highest level. And then internal infrastructure, it has just been unbelievable. What he had done, he has revolutionized the entire landscape in Abuja. All through his life, Wike doesn’t deal with so-called civil activism. No. He’s a man who goes after his heart. He wears his heart on his sleeves. He goes after what he wants to do. Okay? As once somebody said, I think it was this lady, Condoleezza Rice, former American Secretary of State. She said, today’s headlines, she said today’s headlines and judgments of history are the same. So if you pay attention to today’s headlines, you will not have the courage to do what you need to do to secure a place in history. Everything is fueled by sources outside of what you are seeing. These so-called activists; don’t mind them. I tell you, nobody can hold Wike, and he doesn’t need their validation to win approval. The anger is that Wike doesn’t bow to them, or pamper them, the way some political figures do. He has gone far beyond that level. He doesn’t need activists to show him he is right.
