A pro-democracy group under the aegis of The Natives has applauded the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, for settling the feud between Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, and his one-time adversary, Senator Magnus Abe.
The reconciliation was facilitated by the President-elect when he visited Rivers for the inauguration of the Rumuokwuta-Rumuola Flyover in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.
Wike and the governorship candidate of Social Democratic Party had, over the years, endured a troubled relationship due to their political differences.
The rift was so intense that Abe was forced to dump the APC in 2022 to contest the governorship election in Rivers on the platform of SDP.
But during his two-day visit to Rivers, the president-elect urged the governor and the former lawmaker, who was one of his key allies in the state, to bury the hatchet.
Applauding Tinubu’s diplomacy in a statement released in Abuja on Sunday, Coordinator of the Natives, Smart Edwards, described Tinubu as a ‘unifier and bridge builder.’
He said, “We have seen how Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu united political players from the opposition as witnessed in Wike and Abe’s case. That is in the greater interest of Rivers state. It is the trait of unifier.
“Asiwaju is seen engaging another opposition figure, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and a royal father like Sanusi Lamido. These are commendable efforts to unite the country.”
Smart also chided the Joe Ajaero-led Nigerian Labour Congress for being partisan in the build-up to the last presidential election.
The activist also warned the NLC not to foment trouble or attempt to scuttle the May 29 inauguration of the President-elect.
He said, “Nigerians have moved on from the deceptive and self centered negotiations of NLC. We all believed in the Labour union in the past, their tactics and even their combative actions but today it has led itself into a quagmire albeit politically expedient. The 2023 election chronicled their decline from speaking for the helpless, poor and disenfranchised citizens to becoming representatives of politicians and saboteurs themselves.
“In the last general election, NLC’s foray into politics and its mode of choice of candidates threw the gates open to all manner of unknown and unpredictable people, it left the shores of tested comrades to uncharted depths.
“We advise all and sundry, including the NLC to perish the thought of protests or attempt to scuttle the inauguration. Instead, we urge them galvanize their members and supporters to join in the progress ahead of us all. Asiwaju will be different and all he needs is our collaboration and Labour has a major role to play in this.”