National Assembly must not fail Nigerians, says Wike

The immediate past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has urged the 10th National Assembly (NASS) to hit the ground running and make sure that they do not fail Nigerians.

Wike gave this piece of advise on Friday while speaking on Africa Independent Television (AIT) and he also said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) is interested in the unity of Nigeria.

The former Rivers State governor further said that all members of the G5 supported the emergence of Godswill Akpabio and Tajudeen Abbas as the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively.

During his interview on AIT, Wike said the election of Akpabio from the South-South as the president of the Senate is “a clear testimony that Nigerians, as well as Tinubu, are interested in the unity of the country”.

Wike stated that with the emergence of Akpabio as the Senate President, Tinubu has equally proven to all and sundry that he will not allow the country to be polarised.

He went ahead to describe Akpabio as qualified and experienced for the exalted position while arguing that the Senate President would not lead a “rubber stamp” assembly.

“I don’t believe that Akpabio will be rubber-stamped. I also supported him because he equally supported me when I was running for governorship,” Wike said.

“Akpabio is a competent, qualified and educated person. He is an orator who can represent this country anywhere. What other qualifications do you want?

“Rivers state and the G5 Governors all supported Akpabio because we couldn’t stop our support midway,” he stated.

The G5 refers to a group of five former and incumbent governors who rejected Atiku Abubakar as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate during the 2023 presidential election over the party’s zoning arrangement.

The group is made up of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State as well as former governors, Wike, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeaz (Abia).

Their seeming alliance between them and President Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has drawn scrutiny and speculation as to possible defections.

“Just like we did in the 2023 general elections, we said we are not going to allow injustice. We believe in fairness, we believe in justice.”

He says the interest of Nigeria is more paramount than that of any political party, therefore the PDP cannot query him as he cannot be intimidated by people who don’t wait for the country.

Wike also advised Akpabio and Abbas not to fail Nigerians by being “rubber stamped” but also stated that they should not fight with the President, although, he admits they can disagree to agree.