Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers Management Committee, Chief Tony Okocha, has blamed the political crisis in the state on the unhealthy relationship between the governor and legislators.
Speaking to NAN in Abuja on Sunday, Mr Okocha also blamed the political crisis in Rivers on a struggle for political establishment among political heavyweights in the state.
He said the seeming crisis in the state was centrifugal, noting that issues of conflict in the state had come to a head under the current governor, Semiraiye Hubala.
Okocha said the state was a construction site during the era of Nyesom Wike, the state’s immediate past governor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He said this was because Wike had built working bridges and developed other infrastructure in the state, resulting in glory.
“Unfortunately for him, he introduced someone he felt was a confidant into politics, someone who is now the governor of the state, and he was not a politician.
“He has been a civil servant all his life and Wike directed him to be transferred from Deputy Commissioner to Director of Finance and Management and posted at the State House.
“He was later appointed chief of staff and a few months later was promoted to assistant secretary to the government for finance, and then to treasurer-general.
“Mr Hubala had never been in politics and was just an ordinary civil servant, but for all his worth, Mr Wike should, as is often the case with Nigerian politicians, surrender to his confidants. I felt that,” Okocha said.
He added that Mr. Wike was able to promote Mr. Hubala to the people of Rivers and became his spokesperson throughout the political campaign, apparently because he did not know what to say before he was elected.
He said Mr. Hubala had never served as a councilor or a local government chairman, but his first stint as a politician was to reach the highest office in the state because Mr. Wike supported him. He said it was because he gave it to him.
APC Interim Chairman Rivers added that ahead of the election, Mr. Khubula feigned loyalty and humility and submitted to Wike, but it turned out to be a decoy.
According to Okocha, three months after assuming office, Hubara was persuaded by some political opponents of Wike to form their own political system for selfish reasons.
He said this plunged the state into the current political crisis as Mr. Hubala, seeking to create his own political system, was destroying Wike’s already established system.
He said that while Wike may have something to do with the political crisis in Rivers, the real issue revolves around governorship versus members of parliament and the political structure that all politicians need to succeed. He described it as a struggle.
“It is a strong structure that sustains all politicians on the ground and Wike could not sit back and watch his political structure that he built Hubala and some state legislators get destroyed. .
“Hubala was an obstacle in Wike’s political structure and they were trying to dismantle it, but Wike could not accept it.
“The reason Mr. Rivers’ bad things are in the news is because the governor is at war with himself,” he said.
Commenting on the Federal High Court’s dismissal of the suit seeking the removal of 27 pro-Wike MPs, Mr Okocha said Mr Hubala was the chief law officer in the state and also the main law violator.
This is especially true, he said, because we choose which commands to obey and which to disobey.
“And when you do that, it’s an invitation to anarchy. He was the one who brought the ant-infected firewood into the house, and now the lizards are feasting on it,” Okocha said.
He added that Mr. Hubura remains politically invested in Mr. Wike’s Rivers, saying he will not allow Mr. Wike to destroy the political structure built over the years.
