Rivers APC accuses Wike of desecrating pulpit

A statement by the Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, said the governor turned the thanksgiving to an avenue to insult people.

The statement reads: “No sooner Governor Nyesom Wike was availed the opportunity to speak than he started to curse and rile in his characteristic savage manner. The height of his usual vituperation was when he invoked thunder on the Ijaw National Congress (INC) that had given him a 48-hour ultimatum to release one of their own, Farah Dagogo, from incarceration.

“There is no doubt that some of those present, especially children, would feel it is the right way to speak to or curse those who annoy them.”

The APC called on the church to desist forthwith from offering platform to politicians such as Governor Wike from desecrating the pulpit.

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has also condemned Wike for attacking the Ijaw ethnic nationality. It described Wike’s outbursts as ‘insulting and unacceptable’.

A statement by the spokesman, Comrade Ebilade Ekerefe, noted that such ‘tactless and disrespectful comment by Wike is the height of his prolonged disdain for the Ijaw nation as a whole, and Rivers Ijaw people in particular, since he became governor’.

The statement reads: “It is even more shocking that the governor took his unrestrained verbiage to the hallowed pulpit of a church and desecrated the altar of God. The only ‘sin’ that attracted Wike’s ire was the IYC’s demand for the release of an Ijaw son, Farah Dagogo, who was arrested and remanded in prison on his orders.

“Wike should be reminded that such unguarded and incendiary comments are capable of rupturing the existing good relationship with the Ikwerres, and his kinsmen are advised to caution him.

“Wike has forgotten that by calling fire and thunder on the Ijaw nation, his benefactor and our revered leader, former President Goodluck Jonathan, is an illustrious Ijaw son. This ‘thunder’ did not fire the former president when, despite all odds, he made him the choice of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State against the wishes of other competent Ijaw aspirants.

“We, therefore, call on our people to see Governor Wike as an enemy of the Ijaw Nation. We urge Ijaws all over the world to speak against his tyrannical behaviour. We also call on our Ijaw brothers that are delegates in his party not to vote for him during the presidential primaries as this will be viewed as betrayal of our heritage. Suffice to say that if a governor can cast aspersion on an ethnic nationality, what would become of him as president of the most populous black nation on the planet?”

The IYC also reminded Wike that power is transient and that by May 29, 2023, he would vacate the governorship seat that he had equally ridiculed to become an ordinary citizen like others.