Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike, has chastised President Muhammadu Buhari for his silence on the invasion of Supreme Court Justice Mary Odili, claiming that the majority of Nigeria’s problems are the result of a lack of leadership.

Governor Wike, who announced on Saturday that he was paying a special New Year’s visit to his Bauchi counterpart, Governor Bala Mohammed, stated that the goal of his travel to Bauchi was to construct a way out of the country’s multiplicity of issues.

He said, “When you talk about the autonomy of the judiciary, is there any autonomy? Look at the Federal courts in all the states and see the nature of the Federal courts. I am surprised that Mr. President could not even make a pronouncement when heard that the premises of a Justice of the Supreme court was invaded. I am sure he would have issued a statement if the person was killed. It was not just an invasion, it was a threat to the Judiciary.

“What Nigerians require now is leadership. With good leadership, most of the problems you see now will disappear. We don’t have leadership. We don’t know whether we have a president that takes decisions.

“I am surprised that the government would sign money in trillions of naira to purchase arms then you hear that the arms were not purchased, and at the end, you compensated the service chiefs to be ambassadors. I wonder what kind of system is that?

“It was surprising to me when I heard one day that somebody (I can’t recall if it was his driver) brought a paper for him (President Buhari) to sign and he signed a document worth billions of Naira and later the man was arrested that he deceived Mr. President. How can a president sign such a dubious document?”.

Wike also criticized President Buhari’s ratification of the 2022 budget, saying that the president was sick and unfit to discharge his constitutional duties adequately and that the difficulties Nigeria faced have not gone away.

He said “Yesterday, the president said that the 2022 budget is not implementable but he went ahead and signed. Something he knows will not help the country and he couldn’t tell the National Assembly that he could not sign the budget. In the Electoral Act he faulted errors that direct primaries will be too expensive but budgeted with mistakes that determine the survival of the country and make the nation work, he signed it.

“Look at what is happening in the system, if you steal in PDP you are a criminal but if you move over to APC you are no longer a criminal. How can you lead a nation like that?

“Nigeria is a country that you must understand the feelings of other people, if you don’t do that there will be trouble because some people will feel that they are not part of you. Like in my state, we carry everyone along whether you are from Ikwerre or Kalabari,

“No president says because you did not vote for me therefore I have no business with them. No, it’s not done. There’s no election that you can have the support of everybody. Once you emerge, you don’t talk about PDP and APC or tribe. That is what a good leader does.

“These days people cannot go to their farms because they will die. Wives can not go to the market because they might die on their way. These deaths are not by their making, it is because of the failure of the so-called government to protect them.”

On Governor Bala Mohammed, the Rivers state governor expressed satisfaction with his counterpart’s performance while also requesting greater assistance to help him finish well.