The One Rivers Initiative (ORI) expresses outrage at the attempts by former governor of Rivers State and current FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, to malign the person of Chief Edwin Clark through Mr. Chidi Lloyd, one of his brigands, goons, and protégés.
For those unfamiliar, Chidi Lloyd is one of the recently removed Local Government Chairmen in Rivers State. Once a vocal advocate of "Amaechi Lead, We Follow" in Rivers State, he is an opportunistic politician who later abandoned Rotimi Amaechi for Nyesom Wike.
This Op-Ed, however, is not about Chidi Lloyd, a mere surrogate used to carry out Wike’s insults and attacks on the revered Chief Dr. Edwin Clark, an accomplished statesman.
Chief Clark’s condemnation of Wike’s threats to “export” terror, fire, brimstone, and instability to states in an attempt to undermine governors who support Rivers State Governor Siminialayi Fubara in the ongoing political dispute between Wike and the governor, is deeply concerning to us. Such threats pose a serious danger to peace and stability in those states.
The ORI condemns this irreverent and crude attack on the person of Chief Edwin Clark. No sane individual, raised with solid African values, would resort to such disrespectful and reckless verbal assaults on a man of Chief Clark’s stature—96 years old and a patriot who has served Nigeria with distinction for many decades.
We urge the public to note that the One Rivers Initiative (ORI) fully supports Chief Clark’s call for the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, to arrest Nyesom Wike for his threat to national security, given the reckless nature of his statements.
Rivers people are curious: what political relevance does Wike have that emboldens him to belittle and position himself above Chief Edwin Clark and other prominent figures in Rivers State and the South-South region in the eyes of the President? While we acknowledge that Wike is a master disruptor of elections, such power is drawn from the support of the masses—the very people Wike continues to insult and alienate with his uncouth behavior in Rivers State.
It is politically expedient for President Tinubu to understand that Wike has caused such a disruption in the politics of Rivers State that he is now regarded as a political liability, clinging desperately to the last remnants of influence by rabble-rousing across the state to control a non-existent “structure.”
It is worth asking: how long will the President tolerate Wike and, indeed, be perceived as offering tacit support to Wike’s rascality while allowing such crude disrespect and assaults on a national icon like Chief E.K. Clark for mere political gain? We are Africans, and in Africa, “respect for elders begets respect for oneself.”
For too long, Wike and his cohorts have treated the Rivers State treasury as their personal goldmine. Governor Fubara’s “offense” appears to be his insistence on accountability—demanding that rewards be commensurate with work, declaring that the days when “baboons do no work but expect to eat” are over.
The ORI stands firmly with Governor Fubara and will not sit idly by while parasites like Wike destroy our commonwealth.
We insist: enough is enough!
Signed,
Victor Burubo,
Director, Media and Publicity, ORI.
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