The Presidency has said that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has no moral justification to criticize the state pardon granted to a former Governor of Plateau, Joshua Dariye, and his Taraba State counterpart, Jolly Nyame.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, stated this while reacting to the governor who flayed the decision approved at the Council of State meeting on Thursday.
Wike, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, while speaking in Minna yesterday, said the state pardon ridiculed the judiciary which had convicted both men of corruption.
The governor, who said the Buhari administration was selective in its war against corruption, said they were pardoned to help the All Progressives Congress win the 2023 general elections.
While reacting, in a post on Facebook, Shehu said the governor should have expressed his views at the meeting.
“I do not see the moral justification for Governor Wike’s criticism of the decision of the government to pardon Governors Dariye and Nyame at a meeting to which he was duly invited but did not attend.
“The Rivers State Deputy Governor Ipalibo Banigo who joined the Council of State meeting virtually switched off her camera so it was difficult to determine whether she sat behind the dark screen or just walked away after first joining.
“If the governor felt so strongly about the pardons, the right was for him or his representative to sit through the meeting and assert views. This did not do. A press release after the meeting is bolekaja politics,” he said.
