The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has pledged not to interfere in Rivers State appointments as Governor Siminalayi Fubara resumes after six months of emergency rule.
Speaking on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Thursday night, Wike dismissed speculations of his role in the state’s earlier political crisis, saying: “I cannot go and impose anything on the governor. Why would I impose anything on the governor? I have no candidate, and I will not.”
He added that even if Fubara sought his input, he would advise him to govern independently: “Even if the governor comes to me now and says, ‘we have agreed we want to work together,’ which is natural, I will say, ‘look, I give you free hand, you know how you want for the state.’ All I would want to say is, I know what I did to keep this thing at this level — don’t drop it, move ahead. As I speak to you, I left the state where we can compete favourably with Lagos.”
On Fubara’s absence from Government House after the emergency rule was lifted, Wike said there was no compulsion: “There is no law that says he must resume work today. He is the governor. I don’t understand the way we operate. Being sworn in today does not mean I must go to the office tomorrow. You don’t know his programmes, you don’t know what he has scheduled to do.”
