Rivers state: Parties trade blame over First Lady walkout incidents;

Nyesom Wike, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, has bemoaned a group of women who left an empowerment event hosted in Port Harcourt by First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu, calling the action “disturbing and embarrassing”.

According to reports, ladies who allegedly support Siminalayi Fubara, the suspended governor of Rivers State, spearheaded the demonstration that took place at the EUI Event Centre on Friday.

Some of the demonstrators, reportedly including the vice chairpersons of the local government who had been fired, chanted pro-Fubara slogans as they exited the event.

They demanded that Governor Fubara’s wife, Valerie, address them instead of the wife of the state’s administrator, Mrs Theresa Ibas. 

Despite the protest, the event continued inside, with Mrs Ibas speaking on behalf of the First Lady.

Reacting to the incident in a statement released on Saturday through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, Minister Wike, who was on official engagements in China, expressed disappointment over what he termed a “show of shame”.

“This incident is very disturbing and embarrassing,” Wike stated. “An insult on anyone representing the First Lady of Nigeria at an event is a direct insult on the office of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

The FCT Minister warned Siminalayi Fubara to be open about his political ambitions and advised supporters of the suspended governor to refrain from acts that make fun of the state.

“Visiting people and begging for peace is not enough,” he stated. Peace requires effort and action from those who truly desire it.

In her remarks at the ceremony, Senator Tinubu stated that the empowerment programme had already been completed in the North Central zone and that the South-South phase had come to an end with the Rivers State edition.

However, in their defence the Renewed Hope Initiative Distanced Fubara From Protest At First Lady’s Event

The Renewed Hope Initiative statement comes hours after the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, through his media office, condemned the walkout at the First Lady’s event as “disturbing and embarrassing”, accusing Fubara’s supporters of orchestrating it.

The Renewed Hope Initiative’s (RHI) Rivers State Office has refuted allegations that suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara was responsible for a demonstration that interrupted a women’s empowerment event hosted in Port Harcourt on Friday by First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

The event happened on Friday at the EUI Event Centre, GRA, Port Harcourt, during the RHI/Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Women Empowerment Programme, which was hosted by the Office of the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

The office was deeply disappointed by what it called “an unjust attempt to drag Governor Fubara’s name into an unfortunate narrative,” according to a statement released on Saturday and signed by Mrs Tonye Briggs-Oniyide, the RHI coordinator for Rivers State.

“The protest was spontaneous and bore no connection to the governor or his administration. To insinuate that Governor Fubara would sabotage a programme he actively supported and funded is not only illogical but patently false,” the statement read.

The session was going well, according to Briggs-Oniyide, with a lot of ladies from all around the state showing up and participating enthusiastically, until Mrs Theresa Ibas, the wife of the Rivers State Administrator, interrupted her lecture.

She claims that some of the women who were present expressed their displeasure by saying that they preferred Governor Fubara’s wife, Valerie, to Mrs Ibas as their First Lady.

The RHI Rivers office further criticised the comments made by Mr Lere Olayinka, media aide to the FCT Minister, as “deeply misleading” and an attempt to politicise a non-partisan empowerment programme.

“The real mischief lies with external political actors who, rather than acknowledge the suspended Governor’s commitment to women-centred development, have chosen to distort the facts for political gain,” Briggs-Oniyide said.

She emphasised that Rivers women remain united and dignified, often putting aside political affiliations in support of initiatives that promote their collective wellbeing.