A former leader of Niger Delta People Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has cautioned the Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, over his threat to remove the Amanyanabo of Kalabari Kingdom, King Theophilus Princewill, for receiving Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson in his palace at Buguma-Kalabari,

Dokubo, an indigene of Buguma-Kalabari, the headquarters of Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, on Friday in an online statement, declared that the first-class monarch should not be disrespected or humiliated.

The former warlord expressed disappointment over Wike’s abuse of the monarch, a former professor at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) and an ex-Chairman of the Rivers Council of Traditional Rulers.

Wike, while hosting some Kalabari stakeholders, who paid him a solidarity visit at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Wednesday, frowned at the decision of the king to host Dickson, without getting clearance from him, while accusing the monarch of allowing external forces to use him to cause disunity and disaffection in Rivers.

Dokubo-Asari said: “It is sad that Rivers State will have such an uncontrollable person as Wike as governor. He has taken every opportunity to insult the people of Rivers State. Former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience, imposed Wike on us, while standing by him against his Ikwerre brother, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

“We will not allow Rivers governor to desecrate the exalted and hallowed throne of the Amanyanabo of Kalabari Kingdom. How could he have threatened to sack King T.J.T. Princewill? Wike must bear in mind that paramount chiefs are not warrant chiefs. I am surprised that some Kalabari people sat in Government House, Port Harcourt and they watched their father (monarch) being abused. The visit of Dickson cannot divide Rivers State. The governor of Bayelsa State is a member of the highest Kalabari society. Dickson has every right to come, whenever the members are going to display.

Dokubo-Asari added that if Wike refused to apologise, he would soon realise that Rivers people could not be kicked around.

The Kalabari king has been receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital in Port Harcourt in the last one week, but his son, Prince Tonye Princewill, in a statement stated that Wike’s threat to sanction or remove his father was uncalled for.

Prince Princewill said: “I am here by the Kalabari King’s hospital bed in Port Harcourt, where he has been for almost a week. So, you can see why my priority is not responding to Wike. The King will be 90 in a few days. So, if a small boy (Wike) speaks, his superiors do not always have to answer him, especially if he is the garrulous kind.

“I have heard what he (Wike) said and I saw the video where he was fidgety, unsteady and accompanied by the slurred speech. I watched it well.. It appears that he does not understand that everything is not politics. We should pray for him (Wike) and put him in God’s hands. I will be doing it daily. Rudeness is a weak man’s imitation of strength.” (The Nation)

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