Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has condemned the walkout on the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, by a group of women allegedly loyal to the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara.

Mr Wike, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, in Abuja on Saturday, described the incident as an embarrassment to the people of the state.

Apologising to the First Lady and President Bola Tinubu on behalf of the people of Rivers, Mr Wike said: “an insult on anyone representing the First Lady of Nigeria is a direct insult on Tinubu. As a leader in Rivers, I apologise.”

Some women, led by some sacked local government vice-chairmen in the state, on Friday staged a walkout during a Renewed Hope Initiative Empowerment programme in Port Harcourt.

The programme was organised by the Office of the First Lady to distribute various empowerment items to 500 women in the state.

Items such as the 500 deep-chest freezers, gas cookers with ovens, generators and industrial grinding machines, were distributed to the beneficiaries to boost their small-scale enterprises.

The minister, who is currently in China for official engagements, described the incident as “very disturbing and embarrassing.’’

He cautioned supporters of the suspended governor to desist from ridiculing the state.

Mr Wike also advised Mr Fubara against double standards, saying that he should be bold enough to tell Mr Tinubu what exactly he wanted, rather than saying something today and doing another thing tomorrow.

“It is not enough to be visiting people to plead for peace; those who genuinely want peace work and act for it. These are the same people pleading for peace, but at the same time doing things that are contrary to what they are pleading for. How can you say you want peace and at the same time, you are sponsoring people to insult everyone, including the president and his wife? All those shenanigans won’t bring peace,” he said.

The minister condemned the show of shame and apologised to the First Lady for the embarrassing conduct of the few women, adding that they do not represent the characters and ideals of the people of Rivers State.

 (NAN)