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The Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, has dismissed allegations that he demanded money from Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Speaking during a media chat in Port Harcourt on Saturday, Wike rejected claims that he had asked his successor for money, describing such allegations as predictable whenever political disagreements arise.
“If it was money that we were asking for we wouldn’t have prevailed. But we said look this is a political group that worked hard it will be too wrong, too early for anybody to give you this advice,” Wike said.
The former Rivers governor noted that as FCT minister, he oversees a budget of about N1.8 trillion, questioning why he would need to ask the state government for money.
“We said, look, what do I want, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? It’s just like a governor. I present my own budget, The budget of the FCT this year is about N1.8 trillion, So I don’t know what I want. All I wanted was to look, stabilise the place, move on from where I stopped, and I laid a fantastic foundation so we will be able to compete with Lagos,” he said.
Wike pointed to his record at the FCT as evidence of his competence, noting that the territory’s monthly internally generated revenue had grown from N8 billion to N40 billion under his watch.
“Look as I went to the FCT the money FCT was collecting monthly as IGR (Internally Generated Revenue) was N8 billion. But as I speak to you today we have hit up to N40 billion monthly. That is people who want to work, who want to achieve results.
“So his mistake led to where it is too far in the day the difference between us (Rivers) and Lagos.”
He reiterated that his disappointment with Fubara stemmed from the governor’s decision to build his own political structure within 100 days of assuming office, rather than consolidating on the foundation Wike had laid.
“Yes, he tried to do it by himself and he wanted to set up his own structure as against the structure that built him. In fact it did not take up to 100 days and we saw it,” Wike said.
“We said something must be fundamentally wrong. Forget about people who say you were asking him for money. You know one thing in politics is that the moment you disagree on an issue, the only thing you can use to get the support of the people is that they are asking me for money.”
The FCT minister said he had expected Fubara to continue the infrastructure development he had initiated, including the Port Harcourt Ring Road project and 12 flyovers, but the governor’s early missteps had instead widened the development gap between Rivers and Lagos.
