According to a video posted on Symfoni TV on Monday October 26, 2026, Dr. Leelonu Nwibubasa said that while he was Commissioner for Employment Generation in Rivers State, he could not employ anyone, including himself or his younger brother. He said his brother has a master’s degree. Nwibubasa is the ADC spokesperson in Rivers State.
He spoke on the Naija Unfiltered programme. He was criticising the eight years Nyesom Wike spent as governor. He said Wike did not employ a single person in that time.
In his words, Dr. Leelonu Nwibubasa said, “You deny Rivers people employment for eight years that you were governor. You did not employ one person. I was his commissioner for employment generation. I could not even employ myself. Not even my younger brother that has a master’s degree. As of when I was commissioner for employment, I presented data from the National Bureau of Statistics where Rivers State was leading the country in unemployment,” he said.
He said Wike once told him to go and debunk the data, because people should not paint Rivers State black. He said he told the governor he had studied the method used and that it was correct. He said this shows that his criticism is not new.
Nwibubasa also said that today there is still little hiring in the state. He said he heard last week that there had been no employment in the past three years. He linked this to the long fight between Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The host had earlier asked why Nwibubasa served under Wike if he held these concerns. Nwibubasa said he was placed in the post against his wishes. He said people should check his records in the ministry.
These are the speaker’s claims. The programme did not present employment figures.
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