Former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, has urged President Bola Tinubu to curb what he termed the “reckless and impetuous attitude” of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike.
In a statement issued by his media adviser, Ike Abonyi, on Friday, the former party boss also called on the president to direct a thorough investigation into the series of allegations of threats to lives that have been made against the former Rivers State governor.
Secondus said this has become necessary following a series of allegations against the minister in the public space.
He warned that bloodshed for the sake of politics in Rivers State must stop and called on all the relevant security agencies to do everything to respect the sanctity of life.
The former PDP boss noted the recent threat-to-life allegations made by the National Chairman of Zenith Labour Political Party, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, against Wike as well as similar alarm raised in the past by members of the House of Representatives. Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere; and former Minister of Transport, Dr Abiye Sekibo.
Consequently, Secondus urged security agencies to carry out a thorough investigation on the matter to nip it in the bud.
“Any action that would lead to the intimidation and cowing of persons with opposing views on issues must be discouraged in a democratic era,” the statement said.
The statement observed that Chief Nwanyanwu had raised serious alarm on Tuesday “following his press interview on the crisis in Rivers State where he chastised Wike for undue interference, after which he alleged that a man he identified as Moses Emmanuel believed to be the minister’s hatchet man confronted him at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja threatening to kill him.”
According to Secondus, “a good politician and a democrat should rely on his popularity, not on the use of coercion to achieve his aim.
“If the former Governor now resorts to threats to life on everyone who has an opposing view to his own, it then means he has lost the people’s legitimacy and the earlier he realizes this the better for him.”
The Rivers-born politician said that “the attitude of the former governor is unflattering and ugly-looking when recalled that he also recently threatened a serving Senator of the Federal Territory, Senator Ireti Kingibe for having an opposing view on the way he was running the affairs of her Senatorial area.”
Secondus called on the President “to rein in the Minister and put a check on his reckless and impetuous attitude before he brought huge embarrassment to his administration.”
He added: “To avoid a decisive action on these critical allegations now amidst the biting economic hardship in the country is to set fears in the society on innocent people.”
The former party chair commended Nwanyanwu and Ugochinyere “who continue to stand for what is true and just on Rivers matters despite coming from another state.”
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