Wike said President Tinubu ended Rivers State’s emergency rule to prioritise peace, despite the government’s ability to prolong it.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said President Bola Tinubu lifted the six-month emergency rule in Rivers State to safeguard the state’s interest despite political tensions. Tinubu declared the emergency at the height of the dispute between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Wike’s loyalists, suspending Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu and the Rivers House of Assembly. Former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Ibot Ekwe Ibas, was appointed sole administrator, a decision widely criticised.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday night, Wike disclosed that the federal government could have extended the emergency if it wished. “I was watching on television today, there are people who are natural crisis builders, who think they can only benefit when there is a crisis,” he said. “If we didn’t want the state of emergency to be lifted, we would have done one or two things to make sure it continued. But we did it for the interest of the state.”