Austin Tam George, a former Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communication, has described the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, as a destabilising figure in Rivers State, accusing him of attempting to exert godfatherism over the state’s political affairs.
He argued that the move to impeach the governor is a calculated attempt to reassert political control and reduce Fubara’s growing influence.
Tam George, who served under Wike’s administration, made the remarks on Thursday while speaking on Prime Time on Arise Television.
He said he resigned as commissioner due to what he described as Wike’s proclivity for chaos and instability and the reduction of governance to a personality-driven system.
According to him, the current political tension in the state is the culmination of Wike’s long-standing approach to power, which he said is now manifesting in efforts to control the state for personal political influence.
“Nyesom Wike has been a complete pestilence on Rivers state. I served in his administration as commissioner for information. As you know, I resigned precisely because of these, his propensity for chaos, for instability and reducing government to a personality cult, more or less. And I’m so disappointed that this propensity has now crystallised today to a stage where the state is now held by the juggler by person who thinks that he will be political godfather over the rest of Rivers state.
“But what I think is going to happen in this final phase of this struggle is that Rivers’ people ultimately are going to resist and defeat this tendency to want to privatise the state, to want to capture the state for his own personal aggrandisement.
“Governor Fubara has been an excellent administrator. I have to say he’s spending money building people’s capacity, lifting communities out of poverty. Money you would have expected that he would have diverted to political godfathers are now being spent in critical sectors such as education, where he’s completely transforming the sector, in health where almost all the tertiary health care systems are revived, 122 primary health care centers spread across the 23 local government areas.
“There is a total transformation happening on a sector by sector basis, and this has endeared the governor to the people of the state.
“Now there is a strong likelihood that he may be seeking a second term to expand his legacy and to consolidate his achievements for the benefit of all. And this will mean that there is going to be, you know, a reduction of Wike’s influence.
“So what you see as an impeachment move is an attempt to try to reassert what they consider to be their leverage against the governor,” he said.
