If Rivers people must protest from August 1, 2024, then there is a more pressing and extremely devastating situation that they should be protesting against. It is the plague called Nyesom Wike.
Like other Nigerians, Rivers people are victims of bad governance and its resultant economic hardship but the Rivers situation is made worse by the plague called Nyesom Wike.
The leader of a band of politicians who have sold their souls to the devil, Nyesom Wike holds Rivers State captive. He is hell bent on crippling the state unless he retains control of what he calls his political structure.
His gang of politicians hold no allegiance to Rivers people and do not care about anybody. Their allegiance is only to Nyesom Wike and their private pockets. They have plunged Rivers State into crisis since last October and do not care if the entire state goes into total ruins.
If Rivers people must protest from August 1, 2024, then it should be against President Bola Tinubu’s FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike who is an existential threat to Rivers people.
Nyesom Wike has made himself larger-than-life, a behemoth that suffocates the people with reckless abandon. He subdues and subjugates with relish, using institutions of state against the people. He does so with irritating glee.
He has been at the center of all major political crises in Rivers State since 2013. His activities, since he left office as governor, have left excruciating effects on the Rivers polity and psyche.
His menace is far worse on Rivers people than the combined impact of bad governance and economic hardship on Nigerians.
If Rivers people must protest, then it should be against:
1. Nyesom Wike himself.
2. The pro-Wike Rivers State Executives of the PDP and APC.
3. The pro-Wike 21 former Local Government Council Chairmen.
4. The pro-Wike 27 former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
These are the politicians that Rivers people should be protesting against – a mass protest to peel these bloodsucking leaches off the skins of the masses.
The protest should be against the planting of pro-Wike supporters as the state executives of the two major political parties, APC and PDP and the conspiracy to scuttle the next local government council elections and manipulate future elections in the state.
The protest should be against the continuous imposition of candidates and the rape on democracy. A situation in which party members do not have a say and voters do not have a choice as puppets and cronies are railroaded into political offices.
The protest should be against the immediate past Local Government Council Chairmen who are heating up the polity with the so-called tenure elongation. Rivers people should carry banners, calling on EFCC and other anti-corruption bodies to bring these former council chairmen to account for their crimes.
If Rivers people must protest, then they should be protesting massively against the pro-Wike 27 defected former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. These are persons planted by Nyesom Wike to enable him retain control of the state. They have been distracting the governor and constituting themselves into public nuisance.
These former lawmakers insist that the 2024 state budget must be resubmitted to them so that they can take it to their master for butchering and sharing. They are accustomed to eating fat from the state coffers and are bent on shutting down government if their access to the treasury is threatened in any way.
If Rivers people must protest from August 1, 2024, then they should be protesting against the situation that is far more vicious than the national economic hardship – the plague called Nyesom Wike.
(C) ljuye
31/07/24