A group, the Rivers Restoration Movement, has warned a former governor of Rivers State, Dr Peter Odili, against what it described as media hostility against the immediate-past governor of the state and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Odili, who governed the state between 1999 and 2007, at the weekend, lauded incumbent Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara for stopping the state from being “Wike’s private estate.”
Piffed by the comment, Wike, in a reaction on Sunday, slammed Odili, adding that he brought the former governor to life politically.
The duo no longer aligned politically after Odili took sides with Fubara over the battle for political control of Rivers State.
In a statement jointly signed by its Director General, Johnson Georgewill and Secretary, Sarima Akpata, the Rivers Restoration Movement threatened to expose the alleged horrors suffered by the state under the Odili administration.
The statement read, “The attention of the leadership of Rivers Restoration Movement has been drawn to an unfortunate, disappointing and ridiculous statement by Dr Peter Odili (former governor of Rivers State) during a Christmas ballad organised by Dr Odili and his family to honour Governor Sim Fubara.
“In that statement, Dr Odili accused the former governor of Rivers State and leader of Rivers State politics, Nyesom Wike, of planning to capture Rivers State as his private estate, but Fubara confronted him and prevented it.
“RRM and its affiliate groups in the 23 LGAs in Rivers State is sounding this warning that any further media hostility from Dr Odili on the FCT Minister will be resisted with the exposures of the horror, pains and tears Rivers people went through from 1999 to 2007 because we just decided to be mute but we have not forgotten.”
The group further noted that it would ordinarily have remained silent in the face of what it termed as an insulting statement aimed at the FCT minister, but it decided to weigh in because it assumed that Odili would maintain a neutral position and not delve into partisanship.
“RRM, on behalf of Rivers People, takes exception to the direct insult and false allegation on the FCT minister by Dr Odili, whom we regard as a father.
“The big question is simple: At what time did the FCT minister’s quest to capture Rivers State as a private estate start when at different fora in 2022 and early 2023, especially during the inauguration of Dr Odili’s mansion built by the Wike’s administration, the Dr Peter Odili Cancer Cardiovascular Diagnostic and Treatment Center and others, Dr Odili was full of praise for Wike.
“Odili made it clear that former Governor Wike’s administration was the best Rivers State has ever had. Dr Odili even went further to say former Governor Wike has done better than him in all sectors.
“RRM is wondering where this newfound love for Governor Sim Fubara by Dr Odili is coming from when we all know he never supported the emergence of Governor Sim Fubara as the candidate of the PDP,” the statement read.
It urged the FCT minister to “concentrate on the lovely job he is doing in Abuja as confirmed by President Tinubu during his first live media chat, because we know the day of reckoning for all betrayals is close.”