The political situation in Rivers State led to more drama and twists on Friday, peaking with a cry for help from Florence Nwaeke, the wife of former Head of Service of the state, George Nwaeke.
Late on Friday, Mr George Nwaeke’s distraught wife told journalists she was afraid for her husband’s life and had no idea where he was.
Battling with emotions and concern, she called on Nigerians, others for help.
“When he got to Abuja, he called that he had landed. I said, ‘Thank God’,” she said.
“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!”
Her cry for help came hours after her husband had given an exclusive interview in which he levelled several allegations against Rivers Governor Siminalayi Fubara. Among other things, he accused the governor of planning to support Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed in the 2027 presidential election and also meeting with and encouraging militants to carry out attacks on oil facilities and other assets.
Mrs. Nwaeke, in another video, called on Governor Fubara to intervene over her husband’s whereabouts.
“Governor, help me. My husband is in trouble,” she said. “He is in trouble,” the woman said, claiming the husband resigned under duress.
In her cry for help, Mrs. Nwaeke said her husband was in trouble and was being forced to confess to things he knew nothing about and that he had resigned to avoid trouble.
Beyond raising the alarm in an interview with newsmen, she also made a call to Governor Fubara pleading with him to help her husband.
Meanwhile, Governor Fubara in a response to Nwaeke’s claims suggested he may have been paid or coerced to have made the “false” claims against him.
“The truth is that Dr. 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,” Fubara said in a statement he issued late Friday.
The governor backed his position with screenshots of chats said to have been between Mr. Nwaeke and his Chief of Staff, Ederson Ehie.
The chats suggested that Mr Nwaeke had been reaching out to Ehie for funds and support in exchange for his loyalty, claiming that he earns N500,000, which was inadequate to meet his needs.
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