In a revealing interview on Television Continental (TVC), Ikenga Ugochinyere, the House of Representatives member from Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency of Imo State, made significant claims regarding the actions of Nyesom Wike, the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and former Governor of Rivers State. Ugochinyere accused Wike of dissolving the tenures of local government chairmen elected under his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, immediately upon assuming office in 2015.
Contrasting Wike’s approach with that of the current Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, Ugochinyere highlighted what he described as Fubara’s commitment to democratic principles. Despite facing hostility from some local government chairmen, Fubara allowed them to complete their constitutionally mandated three-year tenures.
“When Wike was governor, immediately after he came on board in 2015, he dissolved the elected local government chairmen that were under Amaechi’s government. But Fubara, despite the insults and the attacks, allowed the constitutional timeline to play out. They finished their three years,” Ugochinyere stated.
He elaborated on the challenges Fubara faced from some of these chairmen. “Even when some of them were telling him, ‘who born you well’, ‘I’ll kill you’, ‘I’ll bury you’, the governor still allowed them to finish their three-year tenure.”
Ugochinyere also condemned a recent law extending the tenure of local government chairmen, calling it undemocratic and dangerous. “Then, at the midnight of their expiration, you now go to one two-bedroom apartment in Emohua and come up with a law and say you have extended their tenure so that they can remain in office. That’s a constitutional kill; it’s an act against democracy. It’s not allowed in any decent society because if you allow that to stand, it means that the national assembly can wake up one morning and extend the tenure of the president. The House of Assembly can also extend the tenure of a governor.”
