…You don’t know your tribe-Biafra group
Governor, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has vowed that nobody can rename any part of the state.
The Governor said this while making reference to the activities of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) in the state.
Wike spoke on at the Government House in Port Harcourt when he played host to a delegation of Tiv people living in Rivers State under the aegis of Mdzough U. Tiv led by Mr. Caleb Yashi.
The Governor called on Tiv people to continue to live peacefully with people of their host communities.
Wike noted that the Tivs have not caused any trouble in Rivers State even though they are warriors, and very strong.
“Rivers State is a place that is very accommodating. We accept everybody to stay with us peacefully. It is only those who want to rename Rivers State that I have said, I will not agree.
“Nobody can rename Rivers State. As per living peacefully, we have good relationship with all ethnic nationalities that live in Rivers State.”
Meanwhile, Biafra Nations League, BNL, has lambasted the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, describing him as a man who does not know his roots.
The group described as false Wike’s claims that the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, was trying to rename the State.
In a statement on Saturday and signed by the Deputy National Leader of BNL and Head of Operations, BBS Media, Ebuta Akor Takon, the group described the Governor as a talkative who lacks focus.
BNL accused Wike of trying to create ethnic tension in the State, adding that the Governor who denied being Igbo does not know the history of Rivers State and Niger Delta as a region.
The group pointed out that it was not possible for any group to rename a town if the indigenes of such town are not involved.
“The Governor does not have a tribe and acts as confused person,” the group said, insisting that the, “Niger Delta region of today includes Imo and Abia and they joined region same day Edo, Ondo, Cross River and Akwa Ibom States were included.
“We were never part of Niger Delta, it is an Ijaw region by geographical definition, it was Obasanjo that created this confusion when he added other areas as part of the region.
“If Wike said he has found a new ethnic group, and that he is not from Igbo because they told him that Ikwere is from Benin, it’s fine.
“But then, he shouldn’t forget that Late Oba of Benin rejected the claim, saying that the Benin Kingdom does not have any record showing that Ikwere migrated from Benin. They do not speak related language or practice the same culture.
“So you can see he doesn’t know anything, and he is a Governor. He merely relied on what some of the elders in Rivers State told him, and these were the same elders that looted Igbo property during the war.
“Being a Niger Deltan does not call for ethnic denial, everyone in Nigeria knows Wike is an Igbo man who is ignorant of that, he also does not know the meaning of his names. A full-fledged man like him does not know his ethnicity, it’s a shame.”
BNL claimed that Wike has no other agenda in his state other than talking about the activities of the Pro Biafra groups.
