By Lateef Adegbite
Senator Douye Diri, who incidentally is the incumbent governor of Bayelsa, home state of former President Goodluck Jonathan appears to have put the people on the red alert. This is to ensure that Nyesom Wike, immediate past governor of Rivers state and now the minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, under the present President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Administration, did not export the same political crisis he had caused in the neighbouring Rivers state to the state.
For the past one year, the oil-rich Rivers state had been engulfed in crisis. The loyalists of the former Rivers state governor in the state House of Assembly and suspended Gov. Simanayi Fubara had been at war over control of the state Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, political structure in the state but Rotimi Amaechi, a one-time governor of the state and minister of Transportation during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration had attributed the quarrel between the duo ‘’to sharing of money.
Given the tension in Rivers state and the pro-Wike Camp fears that Vice Admiral Ibok Ekete Ibas, rtd, a former Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, and now Sole Administrator of the state with the suspension of Gov. Fubara and members of the state House of Assembly by President Tinubu, will go after them with the support of the security agencies may have informed why the group had planned to hold the pro-Wike rally in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital.
The proposed pro-Wike rally was said to have been scheduled on April 12, 2025, in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state Capital. Aware that the former Rivers state governor has a way of running to the courts whenever his schemes hit a roadblock like the planned Yeanagoa rally, may have informed why the state government had headed to court before him to obtain judgement.
The governor had said that the state government had headed to court to beat Wike to his game because he was not ‘’dealing with legal loopholes and court tricks but dealing with the people’s will’’.
Justice 1.A. Uzakah, of the state High Court and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, had granted the exparte motion in Suit No. BYHC/YHC/CV/133/2025, that was said to have been filed by Biriyai Dambo, SAN, the state Commissioner of Justice and Attorney General.
The court had granted an order of interim injunction restraining the pro-Wike Camp and their agents, associates, privies and representatives from conducting, convening, coordinating , engaging in, organizing , participating in holding , hosting or facilitating any political Assembly , rally, meeting or gathering within Bayelsa for the purpose of solidarity , hosting and celebrating the second defendant , believed to be Wike in the state. The matter was said to have been adjourned until April 11, 2025, for hearing, which many believe is a set back to the Wike ‘s political camp.
Gov. Diri, who is determined to ensure that the pro-Wike rally did not hold in Yeanagoa as planned , may have demonstrated that he is a better politician that the FCT minister as he was said said to have turned the minister’s tactics and strategies against him by securing the same venue , which he had planned to use in the state and rallying people and inviting the international community to witness his Leadership in the state and to see Wike as an outside who have no power to give orders in Bayelsa state.
The Bayelsa state may have sent a message to the FCT minister that the planned rally by his supporters in the state would not be permitted, stating that his close political ally President Tinubu will not ‘’elevate him above the Authority of Bayelsa state’’.
The Bayelsa state governor who could not hide his feelings was said to have made the FCT minister to understand that even if President Tinubu comes with him to Yenagoa for the rally, he cannot protect him because of the overwhelming of the power of the people who are not ready to tolerate him in the state.
He was said to have reportedly said that the Niger Delta state which has a’’ long history of standing up to intimidation, manipulation and attempts to crush its identity by one person’’, will be out to do it again, warning that former Rivers state governor cannot bring his bullishness to his home state, Bayelsa, and get what he wants.
Gov. Diri, who may not have forgiven the FCT, minister for making things difficult for suspended Gov. Fubara , in the governance of Rivers state that a Sole Administrator had been appointed to oversee the affairs of the state to restore Lw and Order, my have given Wike a cause to ponder about for the rest of his life.
‘’You ran Rivers state like it was your own personal empire, crushed the opposition, marginalized those who dared disagree with you and turned governance into war of intimidation in Rivers state but in Bayelsa state ‘’it would be met with suspicion and resistance’’. He was said to have sounded it loud and clear to the hearing of Wike that the same tactics that he had used over the years both as a former governor and now as minister of the FCT, to control Rivers state will fail him in Bayelsa.
Speaking in his capacity as the Chief Security Officer of the state , he was said to have told those that cares to listen that Bayelsa is not another Rivers state where one person could easily manipulate but a ‘’Land with its identity , its own leaders, its own traditions’’, meaning that the FCT minister, who believes that he is untouchable and have friends in high places, is not enough to bend the people of Bayelsa to do his biddings.
He was emphatic that Wike’s reputation for ruthlessness and political connections at the corridors of power at the Federal level is not enough to break the people of Bayelsa state resistance to him, insisting that he is prepared to defend his authority against the likes of Wike and others who thinks that can ‘’come into the state and sow chaos’’.
Given that the FCT minister is not ready to back out in the struggle superiority between him and Gov. Diri, in Bayelsa state, are Nigerians going to witness another suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti- Uduaghan and Gov. Ahmed Usman Obodo drama in Bayelsa over holding of rallies in the state.
The Kogi state government had banned rallies and political gatherings in the state over security reports but Senator Apoti-Uduaghan, had shunned the governor’s order as her supporters were said to have organized her home coming rally despite the government intimidation tactics in the state as planned. ‘’No chain can bind me’’, the fiery Kogi state born Nigerian Senator had declared. Nigerians are already watching to see how the conflict of interest between Gov. Diri, who is an arch-supporter of Gov. Fubara of Rivers state and Wike, the FCT, minister, who has the support President of Tinubu will end.
