By 247ureports.com
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike has renewed his long-running feud with former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, challenging the people of Evo Kingdom in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area to name a single tangible development or political empowerment Amaechi brought to their land across 24 years in top public office.
The Challenge
Speaking Friday, October 2, during an interactive session with leaders and stakeholders of Evo Kingdom, Wike said: “Someone was Speaker of the House of Assembly for eight years, Governor for eight years, and Minister for eight years — that is 24 years in top leadership positions! What can anybody point to that he attracted to Evo Kingdom or Rivers State in all those 24 years? Nothing! Not one single thing!”
Amaechi served as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, governor of Rivers State from 2007 to 2015, and later as Minister of Transportation under former President Muhammadu Buhari — a combined stretch Wike repeatedly emphasized as “24 years in top leadership positions” delivering, in his telling, nothing to the area both men hail from.
A Question of Legacy and Motive
Wike went further, questioning Amaechi’s moral standing after decades in office without, in his view, empowering local leadership or infrastructure. “But somebody was Speaker, Governor, and headed a very lucrative ministry as a full Minister for eight years, yet brought nothing back home! How can someone who spent 24 years in power without empowering his people or raising new leaders now turn around to tell you he loves you?” he asked.
He also accused unnamed past leaders — understood to reference Amaechi — of using political elevation to suppress rather than cultivate successors, contrasting that with his own approach. “You don’t want anybody in Obio-Akpor to be governor again because you have become governor. God will not be happy with me,” Wike said, adding that with his own political ambitions largely fulfilled, he had “nothing to lose” by empowering others: “I can’t be a governor again. I’ve been a minister two times. I cannot be chairman of council again. So I am happy.”
Wike also cited his restructuring of the local chieftaincy institution to give Evo Kingdom fuller representation on the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers as evidence of his own approach to the area.
Part of a Long-Running Rivalry
Friday’s remarks extend a rivalry stretching back years. In November 2022, as Rivers State governor, Wike accused Amaechi of failing to deliver roads and flyovers during his own tenure, claiming his administration had even built the access road leading to Amaechi’s residence in Obio-Akpor.
Tied to a Broader 2027 Push
The Evo Kingdom remarks came as Wike also addressed a separate, strategic consultative meeting with stakeholders of Akpor Kingdom in Obio-Akpor the same day, where he restated his pledge to resign as FCT Minister should President Tinubu lose both Rivers State and the FCT in the 2027 presidential election. He called for an all-inclusive campaign structure in Obio-Akpor, urging politicians, traditional rulers, pastors and other community figures to unite behind the president’s re-election bid, and said his focus in Rivers State was on helping the people rather than personal gain.
The renewed attack comes just days after Amaechi, now the ADC’s vice-presidential candidate, publicly blamed Tinubu’s economic policies for his mother’s death, and amid Amaechi’s broader criticism of the administration’s handling of subsidy-removal revenues and corruption. As of this report, Amaechi had not issued a direct response to Wike’s latest remarks.
