Sack Wike Now – Councillors Urge Jonathan

The National Councillors’ Forum of Nigeria, Rivers State Chapter, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, over his utterances, which the councillors said bordered on breach of peace, incitement and partisan campaign.

wike-360x225The forum, in a statement in Port Harcourt and jointly signed by the Forum’s chairman, Mr. Lesor Nwigbaranee, and Publicity Secretary, Mr. Dagogo Humphrey, said the minister had been inciting his supporters to fight the Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s supporters.

It also recalled a statement credited to the minister that the state would be made ungovernable for the governor and that the governor would not be allowed to sleep with his two eyes closed.

“The honourable action expected of the minister was to resign to enable him to further his ambition and in the absence of that, the President should sack him. In the past, no President had allowed his ministers to combine their ministerial positions and ambition,” the forum stated.

Citing former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s era, where ministers with ambition were asked to resign, the councillors also recalled that Jonathan had also charged such ministers to resign and pursue their ambition but that the advice had not been taken seriously.

In his reaction, the Assistant Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, dismissed the claims of the councillors.

Nwanosike asked the councillors to sympathise with their colleagues from Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, who were suspended by the state House of Assembly with the support of the state government.

Nwanosike, who is also the Secretary General of the Grassroots Development Initiative, recalled that Wike only said those who had been making life difficult for Obio/Akpor people would also not be allowed to sleep.

He added that Jonathan was aware of the performance of the minister and was not contemplating sacking him based on flimsy and spurious claims.