RIVERS CRISIS: APC indulging Wike is cause of ‘street fight’ with Gov Fubara

A former Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (North-West), Salihu Lukman, has decried the passage of the 2024 budget of the Rivers State government under 24 hours, saying it’s no longer democracy.

Lukman, known for his outspoken nature, also blamed the ruling APC government for the ongoing political crisis rocking Rivers State, claiming that the APC government has been indulging the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, an act he claimed has manifested in the ongoing “street fight” in that state.

The former Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum said this at a media parley ahead of Tuesday’s public presentation of his new book, ‘APC and Transition Politics’ on Sunday in Abuja.

Ripples Nigeria reports that the crisis in Rivers deepened on Thursday and Friday when about 10 commissioners loyal to Wike resigned from the cabinet of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

It will also be recalled that four members of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to Fubara, during a sitting at the Government House in Port Harcourt, passed the budget presented to them by the governor.

This was even as the two factions of the state House of Assembly continued to hold separate sittings following last week’s demolition of the Assembly complex.

READ ALSO:Salihu Lukman says Labour Party’s popularity due to disenchantment with APC, PDP, others

Lukman, while expressing his concern, said the APC leadership had been reduced to the level of a spectator in the ‘street fight’ between Wike and his estranged political godson.

He said: “I think we should take responsibility in some ways because perhaps, if as leaders of the party, we didn’t indulge Wike the way we did, he would have managed his relationship back in Rivers with the governor and other political leaders better.

“I think, honestly because I don’t want to play cheap politics, we must appeal to Wike if for whatever reason he supported Siminalayi Fubara to emerge as governor, he must take responsibility and find a way to swallow the bitter pills.

“The more he mismanaged his relationship with Fubara, the more Rivers people will be receiving the short end of the stick.

”You can see based on their street fight that an ‘arrangement’ was made. Fubara presented a budget and in less than 24 hours, it was passed. This is not democracy anymore.”

He also emphasised that he expected both Wike and the governor to reconcile for the sake of their people, adding that leadership is about taking full responsibility.

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