*Nwaeke: I’m Not Kidnapped, My Wife Reading Script
*Alleges Fubara Ordered Rivers Assembly Bombing
*Suspended Governor Denies Allegations, Says Nwaeke Compromised
THE political drama in Rivers State continued on Friday, March 28, with new twists and turns, with the immediate past Head of Service, George Nwaeke, who resigned recently, and his wife, Florence, upping the stakes.
Late on Friday, Florence told journalists she was afraid for her husband’s life and had no idea where he was, hours after he arrived Abuja, and passionately appealled to Nigerians for help, even as she insuated that he might have been kidnapped.
She stated: “When he got to Abuja, he called that he had landed. I said, ‘Thank God.’
“The next thing I saw this night: people were calling me and said he got an interview. I said, ‘What interview? Interview for what?’ Not until I saw things flying on the Internet that he granted an interview. ‘What happened?’ I said, ‘That is not my husband. That is not my husband.’
“So I sent him a message. I said, ‘Are you under duress?’ I sent him a message. I said, ‘Have they kidnapped you? Talk to me now. Why are you not talking to me?’ This is the message I sent to him when I saw his interview online.
“Oh, Jesus, help me. Nigerians, help me. My husband is in trouble. My husband is in trouble. My husband is in trouble. My husband is in trouble. Look at the message I sent to him. See the message I sent to him.
“I said, ‘Daddy, why? Were you in hostage?’ I said, ‘Why didn’t you talk to me?’ These are the messages I sent to him, but he didn’t reply to me. His numbers are not going through. Nigerians, help me! Nigerians, help me!”
Mrs. Nwaeke, in another video, called on Fubara to intervene over her husband’s whereabouts, saying: “Governor, help me. My husband is in trouble. He is in trouble,” even as she claiming her husband resigned under duress.
She insisted that her husband was in trouble and was being forced to confess to things he knew nothing about, even after he had resigned to avoid trouble.
Recall that Nwaeke, speaking from what looked like a hotel room, had accused Fubara of ordering the bombing of the state House of Assembly in 2023 to prevent his impeachment, planning to support Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, for the 2027 presidency, as well as encouraging militants to attack oil facilities in the state.
However, in rection to his wife’s alarm, Nwaeke said he had not been kidnapped and that contrary to her assertion, he was safe in Abuja, where he had gone to voluntarily report himself to security agencies over the political crisis in Rivers State.
In a video he released in early on Saturday, he dismissed his wife’s claim as false, saying she had been misled and given a script to read.
He stressed: “I am in TRANSCORP Abuja. I arrived this morning from Port Harcourt to meet security agencies and report myself, as well as the troubling events happening in Rivers State. I resigned as Head of Service on Monday because of these developments.
“I just saw a video of my wife trending. She was told I had been kidnapped and given a script to read. I want to make it clear; I am not kidnapped. I am in Abuja, working.
“When I was Head of Service, my wife was not involved in my official duties. That script she read is null and void. I am safe and sound. I will report myself to the appropriate security agencies, because Abuja houses their headquarters, and I feel safer making my report here.”
The former HoS has publicly accused Fubara of engineering the bombing of the House of Assembly to prevent his impeachment, alleging that he witnessed a bag of money being handed over to the former Assembly leader, Edison Ehie, Fubara’s Chief of Staff, to attack the Assembly Complex.
Nwaeke claimed to have eyewitnessed some of the actions taken by Fubara, outlining how he plotted the destruction of the Assembly complex and actions aimed against Tinubu.
Nwaeke said he was setting the records straight due to “the loads of misinformation on print and electronic media,” adding: “However, as an insider and a key player in this administration, by my position, who worked closely with Fubara, it will be unfair for me to keep silent or not to address some key factors that has affected or will affect our state if we continue on this trajectory.
“I thanked the President for a swift intervention in Rivers State crisis, especially on the state of emergency that was declared and assented to by the National Assembly.
“You will recall that when the governor was suspended, as the head of service, I was the next in command. So, I am not speaking from outside; I am speaking as an insider.
“If not for the intervention of Mr. President, Nigeria would have faced the worst economic sabotage and Rivers State would have been up in flames.
“First, it all started with the Rivers State House of Assembly, where the Fubara directed his Chief of Staff (Edison Ehie) to burn down the Assembly in a way to avert his impeachment.
“That evening, Edison was in Government House with two other boys, including the former chairman of Obio/Akpor LGA, one Chijioke. I was there with them when a bag of money was handed over to Edison for that operation, though I do not know the amount inside.
“I want to tell Rivers people today that the House of Assembly complex in Moscow Road was clearly brought down by Edison Ehie under the instructions of Fubara. I challenge him to an open confrontation and I will throw more light on it.
“A day after that incident, I almost resigned, but I was very scared, because I know the power of a sitting governor and he knew that I am aware of the whole plan and that I am discomforted with the unconscionable act and deliberate posture of innocence and mien of a sheep.
“Another attempt was made to destroy the residential quarters of the House of Assembly members.
“If not for the press conference that was held there by Rivers youths, Rivers elders and National Assembly members, that would have been another barbaric demolition in Rivers State.
“I came to realise that they actually wanted to demolish that second building, because after some weeks, he personally told me that if he knew early, he would have gone to pull down their hall before visiting the residential quarters of the assembly and that he didn’t actually know that they had such a beautiful hall where they are using now for their sitting.
“I was shocked and I asked myself how could a man that wants to lead his people be destroying his state assets and wasting public funds on a needless ego fight.”
Nwaeke stated critice of emergency rule in the state were “only seeing the surface. If the President did not take proactive step, no one knows who would have been affected by the sinister plans that were cooking,” just as he urged the President “not to give up on Rivers State affairs, because a lot is going on there with Fubara.”
He said one of the factors that got him removed was when Fubara told him that they would use the Ijaw to decide who would become the next president of Nigeria and I asked him how that will work, whether by votes or by what means.
“He clearly told me that he is the chief security officer of Rivers State and his brother is in charge of Bayelsa State and all the pipelines are under their care; that at the appropriate time, they would tell the boys what to do, and fund was not an issue.
“That was why when he made that statement in his public function that ‘I will tell the boys what to do at the appropriate time,’ I knew something was up and perhaps the time was near.
“He boasted to be the ‘David that will bring down the Goliath of Rivers State.’ That he has the backing of the cream-de-la cream in the state.
“The plan was to start from non-Ijaw speaking areas to destroy oil facilities to remove attention from the Ijaw and make it have a statewide look. The Ogoni, Oyibo, Ahoda areas were to be bombed first before the Ijaw zones. This would have brought down the government of Tinubu and usher in a new President from the coalition of political parties with a vice president from the Ijaw.
“The media was to be captured by paying heavily for airtime and retaining the social media influencers and known social critics on their payroll.
“I am not unaware of what this revelation means, but I am doing this to free my conscience and warn those innocent persons that are used to sway public sentiment that there is more than meets the eye in the Rivers matter.
“Sometimes I slept over in Government House, but I started being uncomfortable when Mohammed and some other stakeholders started nocturnal visits to Rivers State.
“I recall after one of such visits, he told me that he would support Mohammed or any other northerner for president; that discussions were ongoing.
“Although I was not bothered about whom he supports, I was more concerned about the quantum of state resources that he releases to these visitors at each visit,” he alleged.
Nwaeke asked the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to call their leaders in Rivers to order to avoid politicising labour in the state, saying he was aware of several private meetings between the governor and labour leaders in the state and the largesse that accompanied each meeting to compromise the Labour.
“More worrisome is several meetings between the governor, his chief of staff and some militant leaders. The details of which meetings I was not privy to, since I was not allowed into the meetings.
However, each meeting ended with huge sums of money paid to attendees.”
He stated that the beneficiary of the declaration of state of emergency rule in Rivers State was the people and not Fubara or Wike, urging the ’s Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd) to “step up his guards and be very vigilant, because I am aware of the sinister arrangement and dastardly plans to continue to hatch their plans if not put in check.
“This accounts for the organised media condemnations and seeming public outcry against Mr. President and National Assembly.
“Those who love democracy and humanity will always protect humanity and democracy. Mr. President, you have just protected democracy and humanity in Rivers State. I can now sleep with my conscience clear.”
In his swift reaction, Fubara dismissed Nwaeke’s allegations, saying he had been compromised; hence Nigerians should disregard them.
In a statement he signed personally on Saturday, March 29, Fubara described Nwaeke’s comments as “laughable,” adding: “The truth is that Nwaeke has been compromised and whatever he is saying is only aimed at fulfilling his promise to those who may have paid or coerced him to lie against me.
“I call on all well-meaning Nigerians and the good people of Rivers State to disregard everything said by Nwaeke, as they are mere desperate attempts to discredit me and my administration, and undermine the peace process by Mr. President.”
The full statement read: “My attention has been drawn to a press briefing by Nwaeke aired on Channels Television on Friday, the 28th of March 2025.
“Ordinarily, I would not have responded to his claims, but to correct the erroneous impression such allegations may create in the minds of the people, and the disaffection it is bound to cause in the state and the country.
“First, on the claim that he was aware of my discussions and plans to support Mohammed’s alleged 2027 presidential bid, it is laughable that Nwaeke would be part of any high-level political meeting as Head of Service, much more sitting in my alleged night meetings with Mohammed and militants, like he claimed. Howbeit, none of such meetings ever held.
“The truth is that the whole world knew when the Bauchi State governor, as Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum, visited the state, and there was nothing secret about the visits.
“It is also ludicrous for Nwaeke to claim that he was aware of my meetings to encourage attacks on oil pipelines and other national assets in the state, as there was no time I held any meeting with militants or any criminal group to destabilise the state.
“It is on record that I have been at the forefront preaching peace in the state even in the face of obvious provocations.
“The truth is that Nwaeke has been compromised, and whatever he is saying is only aimed at fulfilling his promise to those who may have paid or coerced him to lie against me.
“I call on all well-meaning Nigerians and the good people of Rivers State to disregard everything said by Nwaeke, as they are mere desperate attempts to discredit me and my administration, and undermine the peace process by Mr. President.”
