I am too big for anybody to fight, says Wike

Former Governor of Rivers State and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has declared that all his political enemies put together cannot fight him.

The minister, who has been in a festering political battle with State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, boasted that he is too big for anybody, no matter how highly placed, to fight him.

Wike stated this in Port Harcourt on Saturday during a reception organised in his honour by the Rivers Ijaw People’s Congress.

The minister was accompanied to the reception by members of the G-5, also known as the Integrity Group, led by former Governor of Benue State Samuel Ortom, former Governor of Abia Okezie Ikpeazu, and David Umahi. Others present included the Adamawa State governor, Umaru Fintiri, and Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri, among others.

The minister said, contrary to insinuations that the Ijaw people were against him in the ongoing political brawl between him and Governor Fubara, the entire Ijaw ethnic nationality was solidly behind him because of what he has done for them, especially when he made Fubara his successor against the opinion of some Ijaw people in 2023.

Wike said, “It is not true that the Ijaw people are fighting me. A father may have twelve children; one can be an armed robber. These people that are going to television to attack me, where were they when we made an Ijaw governor? Nobody is fighting me. I am too big—far too big for anybody to fight. All these people put together cannot fight me.

“I told them if you put your hand in Rivers State matters, fire will burn you. Today, they are crying everywhere. Instead of them to concentrate on how to win elections in their states, they were busy having meetings in Enugu and Taraba states. Who is losing now?”

The former governor cautioned politicians outside the state to stay clear of Rivers State politics, noting that “Rivers State is very special to me.”

He alleged that some hoodlums were sent to bomb the venue of the event at Rainbow Town for his civic reception.

“They sent some boys to come and bomb this place with dynamite. They were arrested by the police. You are encouraging crime in Rivers State. Nobody has the monopoly of violence. We cannot turn investors away from our state through violence,” he said.

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He chided Governor Fubara over claims that he (Fubara) initiated the Port Harcourt Ring Road project when he served as governor of the state.

“I initiated the ring road project. Today, they are going about bragging that they started it. Go to Abuja; I am repeating what I did in Rivers State in Abuja,” he said.

Also speaking, the chairman of the PDP Elders Council in the state, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba, described Wike as the “most celebrated Rivers politician at the national stage,” assuring that the Ijaw people will always be grateful to him for making their son a governor.