Wike, a former presidential aspirant of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, was appointed as a minister by Tinubu.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said that only President Bola Tinubu has the right to sack him if he [Tinubu] no longer deems him fit to serve.
“People who say, ‘sack me,’ it doesn’t lie in their mouth. If my appointor believes that I cannot offer anything again, he has the right; it is not that you should tell him,” Wike said on Sunday at his concluding statewide thank-you-tour in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
“Power is not dashed, you struggle for it. After all, if Donald Trump does not have the power, will he go to Venezuela to pick a president? he asked
The former Rivers governor, however, said that the people of the council area had the power to determine will “rule”.
“For the people of Obio/Akpor, we have the power to dictate who will rule,” Wike said.
Impeachment Plot
His comments came after the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) condemned the impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara by the Rivers State House of Assembly and called for the sacking of the FCT minister.
Members of the state’s House of Assembly had last begun impeachment proceedings against Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy with seven counts of alleged gross misconduct.
The Assembly’s spokesperson, Enemi George, also dismissed the claim that the impeachment process was at the request of Wike.
“This is pouring oil into water, and those two don’t mix unless boiled. The FCT minister is a politician.
“If we begin to mix politics and constitutional matters, we will begin to cause trouble. I am not a party chief but a spokesperson of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“Personally, I am politically aligned with the FCT minister, but it is insulting to reduce the activities of an institution created by the Constitution to just politics or an individual,” he said during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Political Disagreement
The political disagreement between Wike and Governor Fubara, stemming from control of political structures, deepened months after President Bola Tinubu ended the emergency rule in Rivers State.
The minister accused Fubara of reneging on commitments made during Tinubu’s intervention, framing the governor’s actions as a breach of trust.
He also told leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) backing Fubara to stop interfering in the affairs of Rivers State.
Rivers is one of Nigeria’s oil-rich states and a major political force in the South-South region.
Some stakeholders have decried the impact of the rift between the two politicians on governance in the state.
