Wike man of contractions forced on Rivers by Jonathan – Clark

According to the elder statesman, the biggest players who supported Wike to rise to his political level today are the Ijaws, including himself.

He added when Rotimi Amaechi’s government (as Rivers governor) came to an end in 2015 after eight years, the Ijaws insisted that it was their turn to take over governance in the state and that the consensus was general among the people.

He said the Ijaw people under the leadership of four-time minister, Alabo Tonye Douglas, insisted on an Ijaw man taking the lead as this was only fair and just.

In an Open letter dated June 9, 2024, to Senator George Sekibo, the senator who represented Rivers East and made available to journalists on Sunday in Abuja, Clark warned him on the need for caution in overstating the role of Wike in Rivers politics with regard to the Ijaws. He recalled that the people of Ijaw emphasised that it would be unfair for them, being the majority, to be shut out for a period of 16 years and another Ikwere man taking power to make it 24 years.

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According to him, former President Jonathan pleaded with them to give Wike a chance during an election year in which he was seeking to return to office at the centre.

The leader of Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) wrote Sekibo in response to his press briefing recently in Yenagoa, Bayelsa, where he (Sekibo) and others visited the Ijaw National Congress, leader, Prof. Benjamin Okaba.

The open letter was also copied President Bola Tinubu; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator George Akume and Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State.

Recall that Sekibo who spoke on behalf of the leaders had said the Rivers Ijaw People’s Congress was in support of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nyesom Wike, having reportedly demonstrated his love for the Ijaw nation contrary to claims in some quarters arising from the political crisis rocking Rivers.

Clark noted that it was a shock to the entire Ijaw people in Rivers State and in all the other states, but they had to soft pedal and support Wike to contest in respect for Jonathan and his wife as well as for the sake of peace, said as at that time, Wike’s highest position before coming to Abuja was as local government chairman and later Chief of Staff to Amaechi, who was his kinsman.

According to the Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, in subsequent times, Amaechi appealed to Jonathan to make Wike a minister, which led to his emergence as Minister of State, Education and later acted as the minister when Prof. Ruqayyah Rufa’i was removed as the minister.