‘Bad child’: Wike lists fresh grouse against Fubara amid political tension

There has been political tension in Rivers State after the relationship between Governor Fubara and Mr Wike broke down.

The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has accused Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State of sacking 10,000 youths whom he employed towards the end of his tenure as governor of Rivers.

Mr Wike, spoke during his “Thank You Visit” to Ahoada East Local Government Area of the state on Wednesday.

The FCT minister, a former governor of Rivers State, referred to Governor Fubara as “a bad child.”

“I employed 10,000 Rivers State youths. The person we handed over power to, instead of allowing the 10,000 youths, he cancelled that job. A bad child is a bad child,” Mr Wike said, referring to Mr Fubara.

‘Fubara dropped the programme I gave him’

Mr Wike said he handed over to Mr Fubara with a directive to follow his programme for the progress of the state, but the governor failed to do so.

“When I handed over (to Fubara), I said ‘see where I stopped. Please, make sure you continue with this programme that will make our state one of the respected states in this country,’ (but he failed),” the FCT minister said, without giving details of the programme.

“When I was here, you know, Nigeria used to respect us. I don’t know what it is today, you will tell me.”

‘Fubara taking credit for projects I started’

Mr Wike accused Governor Fubara of taking credit for projects he (Wike) started in Ahoada and Emohua Local Government Areas of the state during his time as governor.

The FCT minister, for instance, criticised Mr Fubara for claiming that he constructed the Ahoada-Omoku and Emohua-Kalabari Road despite the fact he (Wike) had made 70 per cent payment before handing over to the governor.

“When I decided to dualise this Ahoada road, people thought it was impossible. But by the grace of God today, Ahoada East, Ahoada Town, is coming back to be a city it is supposed to be. When I was about leaving office, I finished phase one of this dualisation.

“Then I flagged off phase two, which would end up in Omoku. The job was given the same day as the one of Emohua to the Kalabari Area.

“I gave it to Julius Berger and we signed an agreement for Julius Berger to collect N4 billion every month from our IGR. The total amount of that road, and the one from Emohua to the Kalabari Area, was about 80-something billion naira. So I said, if they collect four billion naira every month, that would give them N48 billion. That in two years, they would have completed,” he said.

“Today, I hear people are making noise. They even forgot who laid the foundation. On that road, I gave it to Setraco. I paid about 70 per cent. I remember that day, they gave me 100 plots of land. I said, ‘thank you, I don’t need land there.’”

‘Watch your leaders to know our 2027 decision’

Mr Wike told the crowd that while they had made a decision to support Mr Tinubu in 2027 for president, he would come back to give them a directive on who to support in the next governorship election in Rivers.

“Watch where the PDP and APC chairmen are going. Anywhere you see them, that is where we are,” he said, before stressing that there is no political party in Rivers State.

“It is (only) under the Renewed Hope family,” the FCT minister explained.

Background

There has been political tension in Rivers State after the relationship between Governor Fubara and Mr Wike broke down.

The governor’s defection from the PDP to the APC appeared to have infuriated Mr Wike.

The FCT minister recently accused the Rivers governor of reneging on the terms of the peace deal brokered between them by President Tinubu in June last year.

He later threatened to reveal details of the agreement reached between them if the governor continued to violate it.

Previously, a political crisis in Rivers, triggered by the feud between Governor Fubara and Mr Wike, resulted in the declaration of emergency rule in the state by President Tinubu in March 2025.

Mr Fubara, who was suspended by Mr Tinubu for six months alongside all elected officials in the state, only returned to office in September of that year after the president declared an end to the emergency rule.

This was after President Tinubu brokered a second peace deal in June between Messrs Fubara and Wike alongside their supporters.