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Ijaw leader and elder statesman Chief Edwin Clark has called on the leader of Rivers Ijaw People's Congress (RIPCO), Senator George Sekibo, to counsel former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, to grant peace to his successor, Siminalayi Fubara.
Clark faulted Sekibo's recent claim that Wike had done a lot for the Ijaw people by supporting Fubara to become Rivers governor.
In a letter to Sekibo, Clark said the Ijaw had made sacrifices for the survival of Rivers State, of which Wike himself was a beneficiary.
Clark who stressed that the Ijaw people supported Wike’s political career throughout his tenure lamented the Wike-Fubara feud.
He said, “I am, therefore, at a loss when I listened to your narrative regarding the unimaginable extent to which Wike has helped the Ijaw people. On the contrary, perhaps unknown to you, Wike has been the number one beneficiary of the goodwill of the Ijaw people. Throughout his political life, he has benefited from the help of the Ijaws.
“That is why his disagreement with Siminalayi Fubara, whom he had picked over and above all our other sons and daughters, is quite sad and at times, disturbing. It is not a fight between the Ijaws and other groups. No, because this fight is actually about what is right and proper. He epitomised the so-called godfather-godson syndrome.
“He is not the first person to have been a major political actor and later come to the centre. Many of us were key political powerbrokers in our states and came to the centre, yet shun suffocating godfatherism roles as much as possible.”
He urged Sekibo and his collegaues to advise Wike to focus on his job as FCT Minister, noting that his image had been smashed on the national scene.
