Donu Kogbara is a former supporter of the Obidient Movement and an international multimedia journalist. In this interview, she speaks on the political crisis in Rivers State and its implication on the state’s economy, among other issues. ANAYO EZUGWU writes
As you watch the political crisis continue to unfold in your state, what do you make of it all at this stage?
I think that my former governor and the current Minister for the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, is playing with fire, and I blame the president for not curbing his excesses.
Wike has got, in his view, legitimate grounds to quarrel with the current governor, Sim Fubara, and I know Wike much better.
I don’t know Fubara at all, I’ve only met him once, briefly. Wike and I go back years, and he’s been nice to me from time to time, so I want to make it very clear that this is not against him per se; it’s against his behaviour. I’m siding with River State. Whoever launches assaults against the state that is limping along rather feebly, and I am going to take up against that person.
Wike is playing with fire; his attacks on the Ijaw Nation are unwise, not because the Ijaw Nation is always right, but it’s completely unnecessary at this point. Sim Fubara is an Ijaw person, so all his people are outraged about the comments Wike has made about the ethnic group, and I think if Rivers catches fire, it’s probably going to have a ripple effect throughout the Niger Delta.
President Tinubu received some Niger Delta elders in the presidential villa, and was dishing out advice in a rather sort of magisterial Olympian way, advising them to talk to the governor, saying the governor should respect the rule of law, listen to the judiciary, which by the way the Supreme Court had, as we know, humiliated him the week before, and I just think kind of, who are you kidding, Give me a break, Mr. President.
It’s clear that he’s on Wike’s side, so his attempts to offer advice to Fubara are just tokenism, it’s just gaslighting nonsense. Give us a break, and play your role. You’re supposed to be the leader, you’re supposed to be the daddy of the nation, I mean you’re old enough for God’s sake, in fact probably grandfather of the nation, why don’t you stop all this unnecessary trouble.
Wike is a very impetuous person, he’s pugnacious, I know him well, and on a good day he’s a nice person, honestly, but once he gets a bee in his bonnet, like this fixation with Fubara, whom he feels betrayed him, he’s going carry on like this till somebody says stop. He’s like a moving train and the only person who can do that is the president.
What do you make of the resumption of hostilities when the governor went to address the 27 lawmakers and was locked out?
That was just completely out of order. It’s rude, it’s probably illegal, but you know, it’s just unnecessary. These are 27 people, who clearly left PDP; they were received publicly into APC, and now because of a dicey judiciary and all kinds of strange shenanigans, we’re being told that they didn’t leave.
And then they can do what they want. How dare they? And again, I know some of those legislators like the speaker, and I got nothing against them.
I’ve always had pleasant interactions with them but I am telling them to stop. I know what people tell me, and I know what the majority of people in Rivers State and outside Rivers State think but the people around Wike are living in a sort of echo chamber.
They all gather around him, drinking, singing, on your mandate we shall stand, and all their other nice little anthems that they sing when they’re together. They hear each other, but they don’t hear the outside world.
You mentioned at the outset that you stand with Rivers State. How do you analyse the impact of this crisis on ordinary the people in the state?
Yes, I stand with Rivers State. It’s devastating. I think. I talk to people of all levels, I talk to staff in hotels, I talk to taxi drivers, I talk to market women, I talk to people in my village, and of course, Wike has supporters at all levels, but the majority of Rivers State people are fed up. They are dejected, and they want all this aggression to end.
The state is not getting the money that is supposed to accrue to it from the Federal Government, and if it continues, it could worsen the economic situation…
That’s another very critical point. One of the reasons I intervened by making one or two podcasts and writing one or two articles, is because I’m concerned about the economic situation in Rivers State. Now, you have
If we’re going to be milked so that Nigeria can survive financially, for God’s sake, treat us like human beings, and do not toy with us just because one person is upset with his successor
three main cities in this country, which are Port Harcourt, Abuja and Lagos. Now, should Port Harcourt not be some kind of a shining city on a hill? That’s where the oil comes from.
Rivers is the capital of the oil industry, yet, it’s sort of staggering along painfully, its economy is shot to pieces. I have a friend who owns a housing estate; it used to be full of people coming from outside to do business in Rivers State, mostly oil business.
Now, the place is deserted because people stay in Lagos, including expatriates, fly into Port Harcourt just to do their work, and fly out again. So, they’re not contributing to the local economy in terms of social impact and economic impact. I just feel as if Rivers State is treated like a cow that should be milked and not loved. We’re just being used.
The money that Tinubu and his people are enjoying comes from us and our brethren in the Niger Delta. If we’re going to be milked so that Nigeria can survive financially, for God’s sake, treat us like human beings, and do not toy with us just because one person is upset with his successor as that’s what all this is about.
Wike is upset with Fubara, and maybe for good reason. To be honest with you, I don’t know Fubara. I don’t know what he did to upset Wike this much. I’ll say something that will surprise a lot of people: I don’t know Wike to be a particularly vindictive person. I have crossed him several times.
I mean, in 2023, after the election, I accused him of rigging the election in Rivers State but he forgave me. We carried on being the best of friends after a few little sulking sessions and verbal exchanges. When my mother died, I didn’t ask him for anything.
He gave me money just to contribute to the burial costs. So, Fubara must have done something that he can’t forgive. But I suggest that a real friend will tell him, sorry, sometimes for the greater good, you have to let certain things go.
It is too self-centred to drag a whole state. He should stop it even if Fubara has hurt him that much. Someone even told me that Fubara made Wike cry one day. He was so disrespectful towards him shortly after he took over from him.
I don’t know if it’s true, but even if it is, it’s not just about you. You cannot drag a whole state into crisis because you have a problem with one person.
How do you gauge this growing national apprehension about what is going on in Rivers State?
There’s a Chinese saying: beware of what you want because you might get it.
So, when Wike talks belligerently and bellicose; we will fight in the trenches, we will beat him, we will do this, we will do that, be careful because if war starts, you might be surprised that you won’t win the war. And even if you do, we’re looking at a scorched earth policy. Wike is so unpopular in Rivers State.
A lot of people don’t dare to say so publicly, but you’ll be amazed how many people are bitter over his actions. I even have to defend him sometimes. I say he’s not that bad. I know him, but he is behaving so badly that he is beyond defending at this stage.
Someone said to me, why do you like trouble, leave these people, the man is 100 per cent backed by the president, they’re playing a very dirty game and we are powerless in the face of their machinations. But I said I won’t let go and the reason is that I have always hated bullies.
When I was in school; I was the type of girl who wouldn’t let anybody bully the weak children or the younger children. I don’t like gaslighting. I don’t like intellectual dishonesty. I don’t like being patronised. So, when Tinubu stands up and tries to give Fubara advice about how to manage the situation. I say, yes, you’re the president but we’re not all idiots, so please do the right thing.
A leader is supposed to be cohesive. To add insult to injury, most Rivers people do not believe that Tinubu won the state in 2023, so if I were him, knowing very well that he probably did not win Rivers State, I would try and win hearts and minds.
Given the Supreme Court judgement, who do you think has the upper hand in the crisis at the moment?
I will say Wike and Tinubu are winning at the moment but they have lost the battle of public opinion.
A lot of people from the ethnic group I belong to, that is the Ogoni are supporting Wike because they think that he will give them the governorship if Fubara is impeached but I think that if I were Wike, Tinubu and their supporters, I will tread carefully.
Yes, to be honest with you, they are winning right now. Fubara looks a bit weak but If I were Fubara, I would probably adopt a different strategy. I’d probably use different words, but we’re all different people.
What would be the basis for a settlement?
Will it be legal or political? WIke has given some conditions but I don’t think Fubara can fulfill them. I don’t think anything Fubara does is going to lead to forgiveness from Wike.
Also, the president has said that Fubara should follow the rule of law and listen to dubious judicial decisions if he wants peace.
