Chairperson in Rivers orders Wike’s name removed from council building named after minister

Chijioke Ihunwo, the newly inaugurated chairperson of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State 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.

“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.

This is the second time in four months that Mr Wike has been humiliated in his local government area, since the beginning of his political rift with Governor Fubara.

PREMIUM TIMES in June reported how the youths of the area violently pulled down Mr Wike’s statue in Obio/Akpor council secretariat.

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The youths accused the minister of sending police to attack them for demanding council officials to vacate office after the expiration of their three-year tenure.

The former officials, who are allies of Mr Wike, had refused to vacate office, triggering violent clashes with Mr Fubara’s supporters which resulted in the death of two persons, including a police operative.