Rivers crisis: I owe Odili no apology – Wike fumes

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Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has declared that he has no obligation to apologise to Peter Odili, the former governor of Rivers State.

Speaking at a luncheon on Friday at his home in Old GRA, Port Harcourt, Wike claimed that his recent remarks on Odili were a reminder of the former governor’s previous public remarks rather than an attack.

The FCT minister, who was also Rivers State’s most recent governor, explained that his comments on Sunday were meant to reaffirm what Odili had said.

Wike further accused Odili with inciting Governor Siminalayi Fubara to flout the conditions of an eight-point peace agreement.

The December 2023 agreement, which was made in President Bola Tinubu’s presence, sought to address the ongoing political crisis in the state.

Wike said, “They said I should apologize; for what? That there is no law that says their daughter should not, but I said as an elder statesman, should you have given what belongs to your nephew to your daughter?

“Did I say that there is a law that says your daughter should not be something?

“But you said somebody is converting Rivers State to his personal estate. It’s not correct.

“The man who is converting Rivers State to a personal estate is you, and to crown it up, you are now the general overseer.

“I didn’t say anything wrong, so you cannot kill me for what I didn’t say. Tinubu is not like you. If you are a good person, Tinubu called Rivers people.

“As an elder statesman, he wanted you to make peace, but you came home. Ordinarily, what you should have done was to call Mr. President back and tell him how you have tried to implement some of them. Is there any way we can do the rest? Rather, you disobeyed.

“They said elders said I should apologize. Apologize for what?

“I said that I heard and I read that somebody who should be our elder statesman said this thing today and said a different thing tomorrow, and I said no.

“No elder statesman should say that. And the elder statesman didn’t say, ‘I didn’t say so.’ If he had said he didn’t say that, I would have apologized. But he didn’t deny the statement.

“I didn’t abuse anybody. I said our elder statesman was the one telling people the kind of mansion and castle I built for him. I didn’t say I said so.

“It is not me who said it. It is the man who is supposed to be an elder statesman that said so. You are the one going about telling people what I did.”

On Sunday, Wike accused former Governor Odili of putting his family members in high-paying posts within the state while continuing to hold power as “the General Overseer.”

During a Thanksgiving ceremony on Sunday, the FCT minister made the accusation in reaction to a statement made by Odili, who claimed that Governor Siminalayi Fubara had stopped “one man” from converting Rivers State into a private estate.

Wike replied angrily, telling Odili to quit being a “sycophant and a trader.”

Politicians from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) attended Wike’s luncheon on Friday.

The event was also attended by former Edo Governor Adams Oshiomole and Edo State Governor Monday Okpebolo.

Throughout the ceremony, messages of goodwill were delivered by several politicians.

A documentary that highlighted Odili’s public admiration of Wike was played to the crowd before to the remarks.

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