Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has denounced the walkout staged by a group of women loyal to suspended Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara during an event for First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
The incident occurred on Friday at the Renewed Hope Initiative empowerment programme held at the EUI Event Centre in GRA, Port Harcourt.
In a statement delivered by Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, Wike offered an apology to both the First Lady and President Bola Tinubu on behalf of the people of Rivers State.
He called the action “an embarrassment to the people of Rivers State,” emphasising that “insult on anyone representing the First Lady of Nigeria in an event is a direct insult on the office of the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Olayinka explained that the women leading the demonstration included some former Local Government Vice Chairmen, and that the programme was intended “to benefit 500 women in the state with various empowerment items.”
Though Wike was in China on official duties, he described the walkout as “very disturbing and embarrassing,” and warned Fubara’s supporters to “desist from ridiculing the state.”
He urged the suspended governor to be forthright with President Tinubu about his grievances, stating, “It is not enough to be visiting people to plead for peace. Those who genuinely want peace work and act for it.”
Wike challenged the sincerity of Fubara’s camp: “These are the same people pleading for peace, but at the same time doing things that are contrary to what they are pleading for. How can you say you want peace and at the same time, you are sponsoring people to insult everyone, including the president and his wife?”
“All those shenanigans won’t bring peace, and I am sure they know that, because they are not sincere with their up and down pleadings for peace.”
“As for me and those who subscribe to my leadership, we condemn in totality that yesterday’s show of shame and we apologise to our First Lady for the embarrassing conduct of those few women who do not represent the characters and ideals of the people of Rivers State.”
