Former Governor of Kano state, Ibrahim Shekarau, has condemned in a strong terms Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike over demolishing of Rainbow Town Central Mosque located at the Trans-Amadi Area of Port Harcourt.
Shekarau in a statement signed by his media aide, Sule Ya’u Sule, said Nigeria belongs to all, and no state in Nigeria could claim to be mono religious, lamenting that “it only takes a responsible leadership to carry everybody along.”
The former governor, who is now Senator representing Kano central, said Governor Wike’s action was a pointer to him being induced by other than rationale brain waves, as no leader in his right senses would contemplate stoking such embers of discord in a country so religiously, ethnically and regionally charged as Nigeria.
He said, “Wike’s claim that Rivers is a Christian State is pathological. It suggests that not only are the people of Rivers State 100 per cent Christians, but Muslims and adherents of other religions from other parts of Nigeria cannot make Rivers State their home. It also insinuates that Rivers State operates a government, a constitution of its own, different from the Nigerian Nation.”
“It means Rivers State does not recognize or protect the interests of people like Alabo Mujahid Dokubo Asari, Alhaji Isa Boaima, Alhaji Sani Okiri, Alhaji Ahmed Sani Pe, Alhaji Abdul’aziz Pepple, Alhaji Suleiman Akani, Alhaji Ibrahim Orlu, Alhaji Musa Brown, Chief Hassan Douglas and Alhaji Mustapha Wakama who are all Muslims and productive citizens of Rivers State.”
Shekarau pointed out that this was not the first time Wike would show his reckless side in utterances and actions, recalling that last year, he threatened his own Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) hierarchy that they either hold the party’s convention in Port Harcourt or, as he vowed, risk his destroying the party.