Tensions rise in Rivers as Wike vows to ‘break in by force’ over denied stadium access
The minister of the federal capital territory, Nyesom Wike, has threatened to force entry into the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt, accusing the Rivers state government of denying his political group access to the venue for a rally.
Wike, the immediate past governor of Rivers state, made the remarks on Friday while inaugurating coordinators of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors across the state’s 23 local government areas.
He said his supporters had formally applied to use the stadium but were turned down by the state authorities. “We applied to the Rivers state government for the Yakubu Gowon Stadium. They refused us,” Wike told the gathering at the Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic. “Next time we do this, if you don’t approve it, we will break in by force.”
Urging the group’s leadership to reapply for the facility, Wike insisted that no government had the right to deny citizens access to public infrastructure. “We are all from Rivers state. Nobody can deny us the facilities of the state,” he said, adding that his supporters should not be intimidated by what he described as deliberate obstruction.
The former governor called on party members to proceed with the inauguration of coordinators at ward and unit levels across the state, pledging logistical support, including vehicles, to drive the campaign for President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda. “So nobody should be intimidated. We are here to support you,” he said.
However, the Rivers state government rejected Wike’s claims, describing them as unfounded. Speaking to journalists after an inspection of the stadium on Friday evening, the permanent secretary of the ministry of information and communications, Honour Sirawoo, said the facility was currently undergoing reconstruction and was unsafe for public use.
Sirawoo said the ongoing work meant that no group had been granted access to the stadium, insisting that the government’s position had nothing to do with politics.