Nyesom Wike Plotting to ‘Import’ Rivers Crisis into Bayelsa – Gov Diri
Diri-Wike
By Reporter
Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and former governor of Rivers State, has been accused of masterminding plans to destabilize Bayelsa State.
His accuser, Governor Douye Diri, has therefore called on the security agencies in Bayelsa to be on “red alert.”
An announcement and online publication to the effect that Wike is billed to visit Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, has heightened tension amongst the people of Bayelsa, especially the pro-Diri People’s Democratic Party (PDP) members.
According to the unsigned release that announced Wike’s visit, the Minister was invited to the formal inauguration and mega rally of a quasi-socio-political group, “The New Associates”, Bayelsa State Chapter, scheduled for Saturday, April 12, 2025.
According to the program, Wike’s motorcade is expected to move from the Tombia Roundabout, the centre of Yenagoa down to Oxbow Lake, for the gathering which is expected to attract some prominent politicians from within and outside the state. The rally has is planned to be used to honour Wike.
Diri’s opposition to Wike’s visit, Midwest Herald learnt, is to prevent “…what happened recently in Abalama, in Kalabari land, Rivers State of Ijaw extraction, so there is palpable fear amongst the Bayelsa people of a possible repeat of such incident.”
Diri supporters point to the event at Abalama Community, Secondary School to honour the FCT Minister. “Like a commando movie, Wike with his retinue of visitors entered the Ijaw land with trucks of both military and paramilitary men, firing teargas randomly, apparently to scare protesters.”
Obviously guided by the incident in Abalama community, Governor Douye Diri on Thursday, held an emergency meeting of the Bayelsa Elders Council and the 37th session of the State Security Council to alert them of the impending danger to the state.
The governor alleged that a suspended member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Comrade George Turner, was behind the move to throw the state into political turmoil through a calculated plot to breach the peace of the state.
Governor Diri, who warned that the state government would not condone any act that would disrupt the peace of the state, advised security commanders, youths, elders, and traditional rulers to be on the alert
Warning that such a rally was capable of igniting avoidable crises in the state, Diri alleged that a suspended member of the PDP, George Turnah, had been enlisted to create factions in the state chapter of the party.
According to him, holding such an event at a time the political crisis in the nearby Rivers State had heightened ethnic tensions could degenerate into conflict in the Bayelsa, explaining
that the alarm was imperative given that the FCT Minister had threatened to cause a crisis in PDP-governed states in the country.
Diri cautioned that“Any attempt to import the Rivers State political crisis into Bayelsa will be resisted. I urge security commanders in the state to be on the alert. Parents and traditional rulers should discourage their wards and children from being used by unscrupulous elements to cause trouble in the state.”
Diri, who insisted that the peaceful disposition of the Ijaws should not be misconstrued for cowardice, said the state would not allow a faceless group to foment trouble in Bayelsa, which is the homeland of all Ijaw people.
In his words, “As you are aware, we have threats from our sister state. The political crisis there is threatening us, and we will not allow what is happening there to come into Bayelsa. We had in our party a renegade, who has decided to form a parallel PDP in Bayelsa State, working with an ex-governor.
He accused George Turner of being a part of “The kangaroo PDP South South zonal congress that was rejected by the National Working Committee of our party, and he is threatening the peace of this state.
“This is not Rivers State. Bayelsa is the cradle of every Ijaw man. I have always said that being peaceful is not cowardly. We are very courageous, and we can stand up for the truth at all times.
“Every public facility owned by the Bayelsa State government cannot be used except with the express approval of the state government.”
