'There's A Leadership Pandemic' - Wike

The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, says that there is a "leadership pandemic" in the country.

Wike said that the politicisation of security matters in the country has led to where "we are today".

He said this during the reception of the heads of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) in Port Harcourt.

The leaders of the forum had visited with their kinsfolk following the #EndSARS protest in the state, an effort which Wike commended, assuring that there was no ethnic pogrom happening in the state.

He said, “The EndSARS protest was very peaceful in Rivers state. Oyigbo Local Government is one of the biggest in terms of population in the state. Miscreants woke up one morning because people are doing EndSARS protest and began to kill innocent people. They burnt down police stations, killed police officers and soldiers, and destroyed courts.

“When you say what you’re done is wrong, we can’t allow it, they say you’re against a particular ethnic group. How can that be? That action almost led to big violence between this group and that group. I am the governor of the state, how can I allow my state to be a centre of war? That can’t happen.

“Nobody can sack anybody here. Everybody has the right to live in the state. But no group can say it is their own place. I won’t allow that. We also have Rivers people who are living outside. So, I can assure you that I will not do anything that will not be fair to any ethnic group.

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“The primary responsibility of every government is to make sure that life and property are being protected. When that is lost, then there is nothing like governance again.

“But it appears there is a leadership pandemic like you said. If truly leadership is serious, if we don’t politicise the issue of security, we won’t have been where we are today. God has made it possible for us to be part of one country, which means where you come from should not be a factor in order to move this country forward."