Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Chijioke
Ihunwo has ordered that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike’s name be blotted out of
a building in the council secretariat.
Mr Ihunwo, who visited the
council secretariat on Monday, ordered that the administrative block hitherto
named after Mr Wike be renamed “Obi Wali House.”
The chairperson was at the
secretariat about an hour after the Ikwerre and Emohua local government
secretariats were set ablaze by hoodlums.
Mr Ihunwo was elected
chairperson in the local election conducted on Saturday. The police barred
officers from providing security for the election, citing a court order.
After the elections, the police
unsealed all the council secretariats in Rivers.
The hoodlums, who attacked the
two council secretariats, had a field day after the police operatives left.
He stated, “They have burnt
other LGA councils in Rivers State, but whoever burns Obio/Akpor Council, his
house will be burnt.”
“I want to advise Rivers State
Police Command, let them be neutral,” Mr Ihunwo said in a video posted on his X
handle on Monday.
“For this local government, we
will protect and die,” he added. “They have burnt Ikwerre, and Emouhua (council
secretariats). We are ready for them,” he said, daring the hoodlums.
“This name here,” he said,
pointing to the top of a duplex in the council secretariat with the inscription
“Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike ADMIN BLOCK.”
“He (Wike) does not allow the
people to rest. On that note, as the chairperson of the council I have renamed
it Obi Wali House,” he said amidst cheers.
He said the changes would be
made tomorrow morning and dared anyone to challenge his decision.
Mr Wike first served as
chairperson of Obio/Akpor local government council for two terms ending in 2007.
He was thereafter appointed as
chief of staff to then-Governor Rotimi Amaechi, a position he served before he
was appointed as minister of state for Education under the administration of
former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Mr Jonathan’s wife, Patience,
who hails from Rivers State, helped Mr Wike to become the governor of the
oil-rich state in 2015. He was reelected in 2019 serving through 2023 after
which he was appointed the minister of FCT by President Bola Tinubu.
Mr Wike and his successor,
Governor Siminalayi Fubara have been fighting each other over the control of
the political structure in Rivers.
Obi Wali at a glance
Late Mr Wali hailed from
Obio/Akpor. He was elected senator to represent Port Harcourt District.
Eric Teniola, a columnist in
Vanguard newspaper said Mr Wali was in the league of intellectuals like Gani
Fawehinmi, Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka.
Mr Teniola described Mr Wali’s
intellectual contributions in the Senate as “exceptional.”
The late senator was murdered
at home in his bedroom by suspected assassins on 26 April 1993.
In his memorial, the Rivers
State Government in 2014 commissioned the Obi Wali Conference Centre in Port
Harcourt to honour his political and literary contributions.
The people of his ethnic group
– Ikwerre in Rivers State – instituted an annual memorial lecture in his honour.
Mr Ihunwo in the video said Mr
Wali was an Ikwerre who had been of tremendous help to the people of Ikwerre.
“So, I have renamed it as Obi
Wali House,” he announced
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