The spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu has said that there is no moral justification for Governor Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State Governor to criticise the pardoning of Jolly Nyame, a former governor of Taraba State and Joshua Dariye, a former governor of Plateau State.
The two ex-governors were charged to court for fraud by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and were sentenced to several years of imprisonment.
However, a Council of State meeting presided over by President Buhari on Thursday granted them pardon.
Wike who addressed the pardon during a meeting with chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Niger State accused Buhari’s regime of freeing its allies from prison to help them with the 2023 election.
According to Wike, the pardon was political and presents a problem to the judiciary.
The governor also wondered why the same pardon was not extended to James Ibori, a former governor of Delta state.
But reacting to Wike’s statement, Shehu that Wike was playing bolekeja politics.
Shehu in a post on Facebook wrote “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, Dr. 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”.
