Bernard Mikko is a former member of the House of Representatives and former governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State. In this interview, he speaks on the political crisis in Rivers State, why Governor Siminalayi Fubaraneeds the support of everyone irrespective of party affiliation, reason former members of the National Assembly from the state backed the Governor, among others. JOY ANIGBOGU brings the excerpts:
Recently former National Assembly members in Rivers State pledged loyalty to Governor Simi Fubara, is the group across all political parties or All Progressives Congress (APC) former leaders trying to support the governor?
If you look at the composition of our team, we are all former members of the National Assembly and we’re composed of people from the third Republic. It’s not a partisan group. This is Rivers’ programme and of course, our solidarity is not only for Governor Fubara but for Rivers people.We’re standing with the Rivers people. I’m from the APC and it’s a bi-partisan group. Wedon’t want our state tosink the drain as you have rightly noticed because we now have a Rivers of every day one drama and every week one episode. We wantthis episode and drama to end so that the governor can execute the mandate freely given to him. It’s not also about Fubarahimself, it’s about the entire state and the development of the state. That is why at this point silence is no longer golden and wehave to speak out toshow that this is where the majority and well-meaning Rivers people should belong. That is why we paid that solidarity visit and had a press conference for the custodian and stewardship of our mandate to Governor Fubara.
What is the position of the former lawmakers on the role of former governor Nyesom Wike in the matter because we saw Ikwerre people pledge loyalty to the governor?
Let me commend the Ikwerre Social Cultural Group for their loyalty and support for the people of Rivers State. The visit to the governor is not personal, it’s solidarity and support for the people of Rivers State. The case of Nyesom Wike, the former governor of Rivers State and the current Minister of FCT, I don’t think is an issue. I think it’s the weakness of the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to put their house in order where a strange occurrence is happening in our political history, in an alliance with the ruling party. And you see the Minister, a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of PDP serving the government of the ruling party. I wouldn’t blame him because the PDP is divided on this issue. We don’t wantpolitics because Wike has addressed these issues in the media that once you leave the office of the governor, you’re no longer in charge. But these are not the issues for me, Rivers people at this point want peace and they want to support the person that their mandate has been given to govern our state. Wehave been behind because, among the local government areas in Rivers State, you can see that only two benefited from flyovers under the Wike administration, the rest 21 local governments are behind but the governor is focusing on all of them now. Before this time I couldn’t go home because there was no road to my place. The governor and I are from the same senatorial district and with the efforts of the governor you can drive around the state now within a short period. So, we want Nigerians to encourage the governor to do what he’s doing and not to be distracted. That is why we came out to say it is time for this drama toend.
There’s a political movement that is being formed in Rivers State to make the governor a consensus candidate for 2027, what is your thought on this speculation?
As you rightly said, this is speculation and as a legislator one thing we don’t do, we don’t speculate. But what I know is that we want to support the governor, and give him every necessary support he needs to succeed in providing and executing the mandate. This was an unwilling governor who was not ambitious enough to contest. I contested in this very election in APC but the moment he emerged and we started seeing distractions, we said no, this is not time for politics. This is the time for governance and when that time for politics comes, the Rivers people will decide. Nobody can tell you that he voted more than once in this last election. I have one vote and no person whether Minister or President or anybody can tell you that he can vote twice. The godfather of the governor is God Himself in heaven and of course, the Rivers people who gave him the mandate.
Now that all of you have aligned, do you think you can help the governor to defeat his godfather?
You know that the former governor claimed that he bought forms for the aspirants that contested under PDP in Rivers State and he chose Fubara and for any reason that God gave him the wisdom tochoose Fubara among other contestants, I think God will also find a way for him toemerge or to come out of the storm that is ahead. I don’t want tospeculate on that but for now, as a politician just as people are supporting President Bola Tinubu, they wantto see their economy working and see infrastructure put in place. When the time for politics comes, Fubara is just one year in office, all we want todo is to see how far he can go. We want to putparty affiliation andsentiments aside tosupport him. When I was contesting I said that the Rivers East Senatorial District have not had the privilege of the creation of Rivers State in 1967 neither under the military era or civilian and that based on Article 7, 3C of the PDP constitution the ticket should rotate within the senatorial districts and it has never happened until now. You can see thesupport which some southern governors did then against Atiku Abubakar was that he was from the other side of the country and wecannot have a northern president succeeding a northern president. So we have embraced this governor because he is the custodian of our mandate, not for himself. If any other person comes to say otherwise, I don’t think he should be listened to. If God has used Wike at one point just as Former First Lady Patience Jonathan supported him against others, the same way God worked for Fubarato emerge, if God says he will go for a second term he will go. But for now, we don’t want tobegin to speculate who is going to be governor in 2027, all we want is to support him because the Supreme Court affirmed his election. And I want to call on Rivers people and none Rivers people tosupport him to succeed.
What does the crisis in the state say about the future of Fubara as a politician or even his relevance in the politics of Rivers State?
The structure of politics in Rivers State is the Rivers people because politics is about the people. His political party doesn’t matter for now and what he is doing in office now will determine where his future will be. We have seen people come out of prison to win the presidential election and so we’re not worried about the election that is going tohappen in three years. The former governor has addressed this issue, do you know whether you’ll be alive in 2027 for now Fubarais the governor of Rivers State and wehave to support him. I think we have listened to his call for that advocacy and that campaign and looking at what the governor is doing now in developing the state that is why we have decided that governance is about the development of our state not about politics. The time of politics has ended. Maybe as we go close to 2027 we’ll begin to look at what he has done, how many bridges he has built across all senatorial districts, how many schools and how he has rejigged our agricultural plan for the betterment of the state. So many things are lacking because the issue of unemployment is all over the place and he is addressing them. You know that leadership is about humility and I have seen humility in him when a local government chairman called him ‘mumu’ governor and he didn’t react to it. These are the things that made the Rivers people say if nobody will defend the governor we’ll come out and defend him.
If this wasn’t an anti-Wike fight do you think Governor Fubara would be enjoying your supportand other supports he is enjoying today?
I don’t think that the issue is of Nyesom Wike being too powerful because if you can recall when Peter Odili was governor of Rivers State, he empowered a lot of people and it is not about an individual being too powerful. If Wike is being relieved of his position as Minister in the cabinet of President Tinubu, he won’t have the platform to come to this place and talk. And so Fubarais in office and that is why we don’t bother ourselves with political parties, we want tosupport him to execute the mandate of our people and he doesn’t want distraction. Wedon’t want to talk about the former governor because he has done his term and he is gone and we commend him for his concentration on only two local governments during his term.
Are you still a member of APC with the way you are defending the governor?
Before I became a member of APC, I’m an Ogoni and a Rivers person. Without Rivers State, I wouldn’t be in APC. So, I have todefend my state because APC can come and go but Rivers State will remain. So, my first loyalty as a person is that I’m from Rivers State. I’m a party man and Nyesom Wike is of the PDP working for APC and he said he has no apologies. And so I have no apologies for anybody for supporting the government and people of my state.
