An interaction with Rivers residents in the streets of Port Harcourt, the state capital, reveals a radical shift. Once hailed by many as the true lion of Obio-Akpor, who stood up to oppressive forces, Nyesom Wike, the immediate past governor of the state, now minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is now mostly scorned as a meddlesome interloper with intent to destabilise the state, with ongoing political crisis, which has pitted him against his successor, turned adversary, Gov. Siminalayi Fubara.
Following initial attempts to impeach Fubara by members of the state assembly loyal to the FCT Minister, which led to the factionalisation of the assembly, with the Martins Chike Amaewhule and Edison Ehie emerging as speakers of the Wike and Fubara factions, respectively, 27 of the 32-member house on Monday last week, dumped the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state for the All Progressives Congress (APC), the country’s ruling party under which Wike serves as minister despite remaining in PDP.
