Rivers Crisis Can’t Be Resolved In 2025 – Tony Okocha
Tony Okocha, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, has said that the lingering political drama in the state may not be resolved this year.
The drama, occasioned by disagreements between the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has been a major issue destabilising governance in the state.
Last week, Okocha, while addressing journalists in Port Harcourt, predicted that the state might experience worse political crises in 2025.
In his view, Fubara stokes hostilities and fuels the flames of division in the state instead of promoting peace.
Reiterating this sentiment, the APC chieftain during an interview on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, insisted that the crisis may not be resolved this year, saying, “I do not see Rivers come out of this quagmire.”
According to him, Fubara failed to extend an olive branch to Wike, his predecessor, during the festive season.
Okocha said, “The yuletide season provided even enemies opportunities to pay visits to one another and resolve their issues. The governor of Rivers State and his immediate benefactor could not have been enemies. Even if they were, it was time to exchange convivialities and goodwill. What would it have taken anybody to congratulate your boss on his birthday? It does not take anything away from him by my understanding and assessment.”
He said if Fubara wanted peace, he would have congratulated Wike on his 57th birthday in December 2024 and visited him during the festive season.
“A governor who wants peace can just drive to the minister’s house to greet him on a Christmas day and I am sure nobody would chase him away if he did so. Instead of doing that, he is threatening brimstones and fire… I don’t see peace anytime close,” the APC chairman said.
