The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has stated that the state pardon granted by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to a former Governor of Plateau, Joshua Dariye, and his Taraba State counterpart, Jolly Nyame, convicted for corruption, was a disservice to the judiciary.
Wike, who stated this in Minna, on Saturday, when he visited delegates of the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the party’s presidential primaries, said the Buhari regime’s anti-corruption war was selective.
“I want to tell you that this government is very deceptive and they have deceived us enough.
“You have big big people, you jail them after all the court proceedings and waste of money, then you ridicule the judiciary by granting them pardon,” he said.
He wondered how the international community is expected to have respect for a president that takes its judicial system for a joke.
“How will the international community look at us with these type of things we do. Look at the amount spent in the prosecutions and you wake up one morning and messed it up all because of politics.”
Wike also stated that the state pardon was strategically done towards the forthcoming general election.
“He obviously wants them to help him during the elections, he wants Dariye to help with Plateau while Nyame will work for Taraba.”
“If it is not for election purpose, why did he not grant pardon to the likes of James Ibori and Atuche?
The Rivers State Governor also stated that those seeking a consensus presidential candidate in the PDP were not sincere, adding that whoever emerged as the presidential flagbearer of the party would have his support as he would ensure that the PDP won the 2023 presidential election.
He also said that he would agree on consensus if it was based on equity, justice and fairness, adding that he had been a member of the party since 1998 and he had never left the party and would not leave no matter what anyone would do.
“I will agree on consensus if it is based on equity, justice and fairness because as it is, those who are talking about consensus are not sincere and there is nothing like consensus in our constitution.
“Whoever emerges as the flagbearer, I will do whatever I can to ensure that the PDP wins the election,” he said.
Wike further stated that Nigeria needed a courageous and fearless fellow, “someone who will say this is white and this is black; someone who is straightforward.”
