Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, says his successor, Siminalayi Fubara, made the biggest mistakes by trying to do things alone and being in a hurry to build his own political structure as soon as he assumed office as governor.
Wike said he was shocked that Fubara began the moves to build his own political structure when he had spent barely 100 days in office as governor.
The FCT Minister said these were clear indications that Governor Fubara undermined those who supported him and the political structure that brought him to power.
The former Rivers governor stated this during a special media chat held in Port Harcourt, the state capital, on Saturday.
He explained that while leaving office as governor, he had laid a solid foundation which he had thought Fubara would build on so that the state could gradually catch up with Lagos in terms of infrastructure, but he never knew that the incumbent Governor had his own plans.
He said he initiated the multi-billion-naira Port Harcourt Ring Road project linking several local government areas, which had already commenced before he handed over to the incumbent governor, describing it as a legacy project he conceived.
He added that he built 12 flyovers, all of which were inaugurated while he was still governor of the oil-rich state, stressing that they improved the infrastructure and aesthetics of Port Harcourt, the state capital, and its environs.
Noting that politicians must be meticulous in their dealings, Wike blamed Fubara for further widening the development gap he wanted to bridge between Lagos and Rivers states.
He said, “In politics you have to be careful. There are those who want you to succeed and make a name. The opportunity that you have been given, not everybody that has that opportunity. There are those who are not happy who don’t want you to be there, and you have to be very careful.
“Remember before I handed over to Governor Fubara we did a church service and I did say that you have been elected. Few days you will be sworn in, Now what do you want to achieve? See where I have stopped. My thinking is that we do need to compete with Lagos. We have laid the foundation, he (Fubara) should be able to continue from there, we will give you all the necessary support.”
Wike said part of the problems with Fubara was that early in the life of his administration as governor, he started listening to those who wanted him to fail, including people who wanted to occupy the position he now occupies, accusing them of advising the governor to start a fight with him.
“But listen, in this game you have your stone base (support), you have your village relation, you have all kinds and manner of people. There are those who will mean well for you, there are those who will not mean well for you.
“Now, you just came to office, somebody now comes, yes he is trying to support you. Must it be his name? Why not try now to put yourself and people know that it is you.
“Yes you came through him but it is now you; all kinds of manner of things. Some will even go through your wife. Some people will go through your in-laws. So people will go through your father and all kinds of things. So it now behoves on you to sit and say, this kind of advice, where will it lead me to?
“You have to think well. If you make the mistake which he made by saying that yes I can do it alone, those who gave me support I don’t care, I don’t need them. Those who didn’t want you will come in. There is no way anybody who didn’t want you to be in a position will want you to succeed.
“Yes, he tried to do it by himself and he wanted to set up his own structure as against the structure that built him. In fact it did not take up to 100 days and we saw it. We said something must be fundamentally wrong. Forget about people who say you were asking him for money. You know one thing in politics is that the moment you disagree on an issue, the only thing you can use to get the support of the people is that they are asking me for money.”
The FCT Minister recalled that as governor, he never lost focus, which he said explained why he achieved what he did and wanted his successor to build on in the interest of the state.
“You (referring to one of the journalists) have said here that Nigerians were astonished by me taking 31 days of commission and flag off which no governor in this country has ever done. We were focused but you see, he (Fubara) lost focus here.”
Asked if he had demanded money from Governor Fubara, as had been rumoured in some quarters, Wike debunked the allegation, saying it was not surprising for such claims to emerge whenever political disagreements arose.
Wike wondered why he would ask for money when he is the FCT minister with a budget comparable to that of a state government, insisting that all he wanted was for Fubara to stabilise the state and consolidate on his achievements.
The former Rivers governor added, “If it was money that we were asking for, we wouldn’t have prevailed. But we said look this is a political group that worked hard, it will be too wrong, too early for anybody to give you this advice. We said look what do I want, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. It’s just like a governor. I present my own budget. The budget of the FCT this year is about N1.8 trillion, So I don’t know what I want. All I wanted was to look, stabilise the place, move on from where I stopped, and I laid a fantastic foundation so we will be able to compete with Lagos.
“Look, as I went to the FCT the money FCT was collecting monthly as IGR (Internally Generated Revenue) was N8 billion. But as I speak to you today we have hit up to N40 billion monthly. That is people who want to work, who want to achieve results,
“So, his mistake led to where it is too far in the day the difference between us (Rivers) and Lagos.”
