Nyesom Wike, Nigeria’s Minister of the Federal Capital Territory accused Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State of burning down the State House of Assembly.
In a television interview with some journalists, Wike claimed that Fubara burnt the Rivers State House of Assembly to stall his impeachment as governor.
Wike, the immediate past governor of Rivers, accused his successor of being an “ingrate”, stressing that, he should have maintained the structure that made him governor.
Asked if he was regretting the decision to handpick Fubara as his successor, he said, “Difficult question. If you ask me truly, within what was available at that time, those who showed themselves that time, if I had supported any of them, the next day I would have been in trouble, they would have switched counter too.
“We never knew that it would be three months to scatter a political structure that built you up, to now begin to carry propaganda. You know what is painful when you see these allegations, lies that I was angry about, who and who sat with me when he was picked as the governor? Did he buy form? Be grateful in your life in all circumstances,” he said.
“Any politician I see, or any so-called elder that I see around such person, I see you as an ingrate. Nobody who is a gentleman, who is a politician that knows what politics is all about will support that kind of thing.
“I told everybody, keep quiet. How do you have 31 members in the House of Assembly and 27 are against you?” he quizzed.
When asked if he would pick up the call of the governor if he calls, he said he would because he is a Rivers man.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
