Key Takeaways
- During an Arise TV Morning Show appearance, former Obio/Akpor Chairman Chijioke Ihunwo, a supporter of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, faced sharp questions about his earlier opposition to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, including the 2024 removal of a Wike statue.
- Rufai Oseni referenced Wike’s federal power win, while Reuben Abati called Ihunwo a ‘boy boy’ to Fubara and probed the true ‘001’ leader in Rivers.
- Ihunwo affirmed Fubara as the state’s top figure and highlighted a new Rainbow Coalition uniting behind the governor and President Tinubu amid ongoing political reconciliations.
It was a tense morning on Arise TV — and former Obio/Akpor Chairman Chijioke Ihunwo was in the hot seat.
During an Arise TV Morning Show appearance, Ihunwo, a supporter of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, faced sharp questions about his earlier opposition to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, including the 2024 removal of a Wike statue in his local government.
The interview, which has since gone viral on X, saw hosts Rufai Oseni and Reuben Abati refuse to let Ihunwo rewrite history.
Oseni went straight for the jugular:
“You were defeated by Wike’s might, the governor submitted. I have tapes of you fighting him in the studio, but he used federal power with President Tinubu to impose a state of emergency in Rivers State. And also want to ask you, have you replaced the Wike statue you brought down from your local Govt?”
https://twitter.com/Dee_9889/status/2120087923856928824/video/1?s=19
It was a reference to the height of the Rivers crisis, when Ihunwo was one of the fiercest voices against Wike, and when the removal of Wike’s statue in Obio/Akpor became a symbol of the break between the Fubara camp and the former governor.
Abati followed up with a line that has now become the most quoted moment of the interview:
“Pardon my manner of speaking, you are a boy boy to Sim Fubara, and Sim Fubara is a boy boy to another oga, and you yourself is at the bottom of the ladder that reports to an oga, and that oga reports to another oga, and now you alone is under 2 oga…” — Reuben Abati
Abati was probing the true ‘001’ leader in Rivers — who really calls the shots? Is it Fubara? Is it Wike? Is it Tinubu?
Ihunwo, however, held his ground. He affirmed Fubara as the state’s top figure and highlighted a new Rainbow Coalition uniting behind the governor and President Tinubu amid ongoing political reconciliations.
For many viewers, the interview captured the new reality of Rivers politics — former enemies now preaching reconciliation, former Wike critics now aligning with Tinubu, and everyone insisting Fubara is still in charge, even after the state of emergency that shook the state.
On X, the clip has drawn strong reactions, with supporters of Wike mocking Ihunwo for what they call a U-turn, while Fubara supporters praise him for standing firm and pushing for unity.
One thing is clear from the Arise TV grilling: in Rivers, the past is not past. The statue may have been brought down, but the questions about who brought it down — and who really won — are still very much alive.
