Rivers
State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari was under
pressure at ‘some point in the past’ to declare a state of emergency in the
state.
The
governor, who is a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, also
said the lives of animals are treated better under the present administration.
“When I
went to see the President, he told me that he was under pressure to declare a
state of emergency in Rivers State,” a Government House statement quoted Mr.
Wike to have said on Friday when he received the Anglican Bishops of Niger
Delta Province who visited him at the Government House.
The
governor did not, however, mention when, and why, the president made the
remark.
Apart from
political tension caused by hotly contested elections which are oftentimes
marred by violence and killings, Rivers has witnessed several cult-related
violence and killings, the latest one being the gruesome killing of 17 people
in Omoku on New Year Day.
The
opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state is accusing the
governor of “working with” cult kingpins and lacking the capacity to tackle
insecurity in the state. Mr. Wike denies this.
Mr. Wike
told the Anglican bishops that his state ceased to be the focus of the
APC-controlled federal government because of “mass insecurity across the
country”.
“Those
things they planned to use in declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State fell
on their own states and it became difficult to do so,” he said.
“When you
sit and plot evil against Rivers State, you will not know peace. If they don’t
apologise for plotting and executing evil against Rivers State, they will never
know peace.”
The governor
accused President Buhari of not showing interest on the recent killing in Benue
State, saying that in some other countries the president would have visited the
area to assess the situation even if the lives lost were fewer in number.
“Human
lives are not respected,” he said. “In fact, the lives of cows and chicken
appear to be more important than human lives.
“This has
nothing to do with politics. Let us not trivialise the catastrophy that has
befallen Nigeria,” he added.
Mr. Wike,
who said that his state survived by the prayers of the clerics and the church,
urged the church to show interest in the nation’s politics.
- Premium Times
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