Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has called for the arrest of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, for threatening to set fire to states governed by governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Clark specifically urged the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to immediately effect the arrest of Wike in the interest of the country.
Wike, while speaking at the secretariat of the PDP in Port Harcourt during the party’s state congress last Saturday, warned governors of the PDP to steer clear of the party’s affairs in Rivers State.
Clark, in an open letter to the IGP, said Wike’s comments were a flagrant disrespect to President Bola Tinubu, who appointed him, and a threat to public peace.
The elder statesman described Wike’s remarks as "unbridled" and a violation of the constitution, urging the police boss to arrest and prosecute him.
“Wike has violated several public laws. His threat to burn states governed by PDP is treasonable. No governor or minister has the authority to go to such extreme, it’s a breach of the constitution", he said.
Clark further accused Wike of acting as though “the only person above him is the President,” and stressed that the minister should not be allowed to escape legal consequences.
The leader of the Ijaw Nation pointed out that the African Action Congress presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Omoyele Sowore, was arrested for a similar offence, insisting that Wike should be held to the same standard and be compelled to retract his inflammatory statements.
"Was it Sowore who committed treason by calling for revolution? What impact did it have? Yet here is a serving minister, threatening to burn states and disrupt governance.”
But responding to Clark, an ally of Wike and former chairman of Emohua Local Government Area, Dr. Chidi Lloyd, described him as a hypocritical old man after stomach infrastructure.
Lloyd, a former leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, said Clark had displayed crass ignorance to figurative use of words and wondered how he once became the Minister of Information.
While describing Clark as a non-member of the PDP, Lloyd recalled that the nonagenarian kicked against the candidature of Fubara during the primaries and said he was not a true Ijaw man.
“He should be in his village and not in Abuja. We have restrained ourselves from talking to an old man. To set the record straight, if Edwin Clark is truly who he thinks he is, he should be living in his village in Kiagbodo," Lloyd said.
