The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, has offered a rather humorous explanation as to why the governor of Oyo State, Mr. Seyi Makinde, follows his Rivers State counterpart, Mr. Nyesom Wike around.
Speaking at a banquet held in his honour by Wike in Port Harcourt, yesterday Ariwoola, who is Makinde’s kinsman, said he was happy that his governor is a member of the G5, also known as the integrity governors.
The CJN said jokingly that Wike was threatening to withdraw Makinde’s wife, who is from Rivers, from Oyo.
“That is why we should not be scared to have these men of the integrity group.
“And I am happy that my own governor is among them because he would try to imitate his friend and in-law because we came here to marry for my governor.
“So, Governor Wike will always threaten that he will call back his sister if my governor fails to play ball.
“That is why you see him following his Excellency (Wike) because my governor is afraid of his wife being recalled,” he said.
Ariwoola, who was in the state as a special guest of honour to commission projects completed by the rivers state government under Wike on Friday (today), expressed the hope that Makinde would emulate Wike to replicate the good works in his state.
He lauded Wike for leaving a legacy in Rivers State worthy of emulation, saying Wike had said time and again he would continue to inaugurate projects until his last day in office.
The CJN also commended the Governor for his support to the judiciary since assumption of office in 2015.
“The things that he (Wike) is bestowing to generations unborn will be hard to beat. That’s why he says it all. Anytime he has the opportunity, he will say. Yes, he would not be in office forever, but whatever time he has to spend in office, let it be spent very well.
“All these things he’s been doing are to put on record that human beings can at any time do far better. I was telling somebody that he (Wike) started far below from being council chairman, and the Lord saw in him a son worth raising.
“I have no doubt the sky is still the limit for Your Excellency. The whole world is seeing what you can do, seeing what you are doing, and wants it replicated. It has to be replicated,” he said.
In his remarks, Wike said this was the most tempting period in Nigeria’s history for any judicial officer and prayed God to guide the CJN.
“Anytime we are going into transition, the crisis we have, will Nigeria survive? Will there be democracy? My Lord, everything falls on the judiciary.
“We politicians have our ways. Everything good or bad, it is the judiciary that is bad. As far as we are concerned, we, the politicians, are saints. The only bad people are the judiciary.
“We will not do our work. We will not do what we are supposed to do.
“So, I urge you that the God that brought you now should also give you and your colleagues all the wisdom to see that this country is united. To see that democracy survives in this country,” the governor said.
The G-5 who are governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are Wike as the arrowhead, Messrs Samuel Ortom (Benue State), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State), Seyi Makinde (Oyo State) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State).
They are calling for equity, fairness and justice in the PDP, specifically insisting that the party’s national chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, must step down to pave the way for someone from the south to succeed him, since the party’s presidential candidate, Mr. Atiku Abubakar, hails from the North.
