You Can’t Set Bauchi On Fire, I Have Enough Water – Governor Bala Muhammad mocks Wike

Bauchi Guber: Tribunal Upholds Bala Mohammed's Election Victory

Bauchi Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed has declared that nobody can set Bauchi State on fire because he has gathered enough treated water to quench any form of fire. This remark comes in response to the recent threat by Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike to set opposition PDP states on fire. Bala Mohammed issued the response which was apparently directed at Wike when a delegation from the National Secretariat of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) visited him at the Governor’s Office in Bauchi on Tuesday. The Governor said that the crisis rocking the party is not personal, stressing that nobody should misunderstand the party as it is still united. According to him, “If we have quarrel, it is not personal, nobody should misunderstand us, we are together. This is not a splinter group, this is just a delegation from the National Working Committee of the PDP. We are going to discuss some of the issues in the party” “This unsolicited visit by the National Working Committee shows that in Nigeria we have people of conscience and we are connected by the values that established the PDP by our founding fathers” Bala Mohammed also said, “Yes, none of the political parties are insulated from crisis here and there, but crisis is there and that why leadership is there.We have to take the bull by the horns to discuss and look at the constitution of our party.” “We must do things by the rule of law, we must respect people, we must put our interest aside, we must respect our diversities, we must bring and close rank, especially for party like the PDP that has a history,” he added. “We have a pedigree, most of the developments in the country were done by the PDP, since we left nothing has happened. As you can see all the members of the National Working Committee that are here are square heads in square holes” He then assured that as the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, he will continue to give effective and efficient leadership and meaningful opposition in the country.

PDP asks IGP to stop pro-Wike lawmakers from disrupting governance

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun to caution the 27 ousted members of the Rivers State House of Assembly against actions that could disrupt Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s administration. In a press statement on Wednesday, PDP National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba noted that these lawmakers, who had pledged allegiance to former Governor Nyesom Wike, openly defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Ologunagba cited the 1999 Constitution, stating that their defection disqualifies them from holding legislative positions in the assembly, and therefore, they lack the authority to convene or issue directives to the governor. Ologunagba, in the statement, said, “The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for the umpteenth time, cautions the former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who lost their seats upon defection from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) @OfficialAPCNg to desist from actions and utterances that are capable of disrupting peace and governance in the State. “The Party counsels the former lawmakers to wake up to the reality that they are no longer members of the Rivers State House of Assembly by virtue of the self-executory provision of Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and as such cannot gather or issue any notice to the State Governor in the capacity of members of Rivers State House of Assembly,” he explained. According to the party’s national spokesperson, the caution followed the former lawmakers’ purported seven-day ultimatum issued from an unknown location to the governor to re-present the 2024 state’s budget already passed and signed into law. Ologunlagba said the action by pro-Wike lawmakers’ seeking to assume the powers of the state assembly “is apparently with the intension to cause crisis, undermine and disrupt the Democratic and Constitutional Order in the State in clear violation of Section 1 sub-section 2 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).” “Having irretrievably lost their seats upon their defection from the PDP, the political Party platform upon which they were elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly, they cannot enjoy the powers, rights, privileges, recognition and obligations of members of the Rivers State House of Assembly,” Mr Ologunagba insisted. The party, therefore, charged the IG “to note the subversive action of these former lawmakers and take immediate action to protect the Institution of Democracy, peace and security in Rivers State.” He also urged the state’s residents to stay vigilant, uphold the law, and collaborate towards maintaining stability, peace, and the delivery of democratic benefits under the party’s leadership.

What I told Tinubu about Wike, Fubara fight – Edwin Clark

Elder statesman Edwin Clark said he has advised President Bola Tinubu to give Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State a free hand to run his state’s affairs. The Ijaw national leader said this while weighing in on the crisis between Fubara and Tinubu’s appointee, Nyesom Wike, which has engulfed the oil-rich state in the past few months. The crisis has polarised the Rivers State House of Assembly, while many members of Wike’s camp previously appointed by Fubara have quit. “I have advised Mr President (Tinubu) again that he should leave Fubara alone to run his government, Wike should concentrate on his job in Abuja. “Once that is done, there will be peace and stability in the state. But if they do anything contrary and there is no peace, it will affect the economy of the country,” Clark told The Punch. The 97-year-old said elder statesmen like himself have been unable to mediate between Wike and Fubara because of the former’s insistence on controlling the political structure of the state. “How do you bring them together? One man says I have divorced. But you are my house help. There is no way. You are my son. There is no way any outsider can accept him. “This is because Wike does not see anything wrong with him. He believes that he is still controlling the structures in Rivers State whereas those structures have been there from governor to governor. “They don’t belong to one person. Wike was not yet born when Rivers was created,” he said. Clark castigated the Caretaker Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tony Okocha for calling on the president to declare a state of emergency in the state over the crisis. “Concerning the call for a declaration of a state emergency, I can tell you that (Tony)nOkocha doesn’t know what he is doing. Who is he to call for that? He was only fortunate to be put there because the existing Rivers APC executives were dissolved in the first place. He knows me very well. “Was he not the chief of staff to (Rotimi) Amaechi when he was governor? They were in the APC together. Wike later took seven of them to see (Dr Abdullahi) Ganduje in Abuja. They formed a (caretaker) committee, and today, he is the chairman of Rivers State APC. So, it was obvious from the start that Okocha didn’t want to be with Amaechi again. “These are the people scattering Rivers State,” he said.

Wike loyalists storm council secretariat, vow to resist Fubara’s caretaker team

There is ongoing tension in Port Harcourt City Local Government Council (PHALGA) in Rivers State as youths, loyal to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike, gathered around the council premises amidst a crisis over local government administration. Police presence was heightened around PHALGA and other local council areas across the state to maintain order following reports of unrest. Speaking to Channels Television, Maxwell Enwukwe, a former Council Executive and current coordinator of grassroots development initiatives in PHALGA, emphasized their commitment to ensuring peace and order. “These are youths from Port Harcourt Local Government Council. We have come to ensure peace and order in our local government council because yesterday, we received information that some individuals gathered hoodlums to besiege the council even during a public holiday,” Enwukwe stated. He further explained, “Today, we have come to see why that happened, but fortunately, the police have taken over the local government council premises, and everyone is here peacefully. These are supporters of grassroots development initiatives loyal to the Minister of FCT.” Despite the police presence, the crowd remained stationed at the PHALGA environment, which is near the Rivers State Government House, indicating heightened tensions over the leadership dispute. The crisis was triggered by the expiration of the tenure of local government chairmen in Rivers State on Tuesday, with conflicting claims over tenure extension by the State House of Assembly. Governor Siminalayi Fubara has, however, maintained that there was no official extension of tenure and has proceeded to nominate caretaker committees for the 23 local government councils in the state.