The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has stated that the biggest mistakes made by Rivers state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, were trying to do things alone and attempting to build his own political structure too early after assuming office as governor.
Wike mentioned that it was shocking that Fubara started moving to build his political structure when he was barely 100 days into office.
The former Rivers state governor said the development clearly showed that the governor undermined those who supported him and the political structure that brought him to power.
Wike noted that this during a special media chat held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Saturday and monitored by our correspondent.
He said that while leaving office as governor, he had laid a solid foundation which he wanted Fubara to build on so that the state could gradually catch up with Lagos in terms of infrastructure, but little did he know that the latter had his own plans.
Wike stated that he launched the multibillion-naira Port Harcourt Ring Road project, which had already begun before he turned over to the current governor, and described it as a legacy project he created.
He stated that he constructed 12 flyovers, all of which were completed when he was governor of the oil-rich state, and that they improved the infrastructure and beauty of Port Harcourt, the state capital, and its surroundings.
While stating that politicians must be meticulous in their dealings, Wike said the mistake Fubara made had further widened the development gap he wanted to bridge between Lagos and Rivers states.
Wike stated, “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 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 had been elected. A few days from now 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.”
He said one of Fubara’s problems was that early in his administration as governor, he began listening to those who wanted him to fail, including those who wanted to occupy the position he now holds, claiming they were the ones who advised the governor to start a fight with him.
“But listen, in this game you have your stone base (support), you have your village relations, and you have all kinds and manner of people. There are those who will mean well for you, and there are those who will not mean well for you.
“Now you just came to the office; somebody now comes. Yes, he is trying to support you. Must it be his name? Why not try now to put yourself out there and let 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 behooves 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.”
He mentioned that as governor, he never lost focus, which he said explained why he achieved what he did and wanted his successor to build on it 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.”
Speaking on if he had demanded money from 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.
The FCT minister 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.
“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, stabilize 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 achieved result,
“So his mistake led to where it is too far in the day the difference between us (Rivers) and Lagos,” the former Rivers State governor added.
