3/5/2025
Former Rivers governor Nyesom Wike has been raging with anger after Rivers women walked out on the wife of sole administrator Ibok-Ete Ibas Thursday in Port Harcourt.
Mrs Theresa Ibas who was representing the First Lady Oluremi Tinubu at a “Renewed Hope Initiative” women empowerment programme was shocked to see the women trooping out while she was making her speech. The group of women loyal to suspended governor Siminalayi Fubura chanted protest songs and insisted on Mrs Valerie Fubara addressing them as First Lady of Rivers State.
Wike who is the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory said walking out on Mrs Ibas was embarrassing, because it wasn’t just her, they disrespected but also the First Lady of Nigeria.
“An insult on anyone representing the First Lady of Nigeria in 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, and as a leader in Rivers State, I apologize,” Wike said Saturday in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and social media, Lere Olayinka.
He counselled Fubara to demonstrate honesty by being bold enough to tell President Tinubu what exactly he wanted, rather than saying something today, and doing another thing tomorrow.
Wike said; “It is not enough to be visiting people to plead for peace, those who genuinely want peace work and act for it.
“These are the same people pleading for peace, but at the same time doing things that are contrary to what they are pleading for.
“How can you say you want peace and at the same time, you are sponsoring people to insult everyone, including the President and his wife?
“All those shenanigans won’t bring peace, and I am sure they know that, because they are not sincere with their up and down pleadings for peace.”
