…Accuses Fubara of culpability
By: Felix Ikpotor
Following the spate of political crisis in Rivers State which has claimed three lives, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a State of Emergency in the state to prevent the crisis from further escalating.
The state APC chairman, Tony Okocha, while briefing newsmen on the state of affairs in Rivers also accused the State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara of being responsible for the crisis following his alleged disobedience to lawful counsel by President Tinubu and laws of the state against appointment of Caretaker Committees for the 23 local councils in the state.
Port Harcourt Spectator reports that Rivers State since Monday, has experienced series of violent crisis following the refusal of some council chairmen to vacate their offices as their tenure expired on June 17.
This is as youths and political supporters of the governor ceased virtually all the council secretariats in the state leading to the death of a police officer, a local vigilante member in Omuma and a student in Ahoada East.
Okocha said: Rivers State is at war as at today and who are the actors? They are Governor Siminalayi Fubara versus Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
He recalled that: “In January, 2024, Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, held a meeting with the Chairman of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, and in that meeting, the chairman said they are ready for election but the government has not given them the enablement, that they are aware of what the law has said on local government elections but they need the permission of the executive. Now what is happening today in the state? The Governor has made himself and the state vulnerable and now we are susceptible to attacks”
He added: “The Governor does not take counsel. If the President of the country in a well constituted meeting should advise him that that nomenclature called caretaker committees should not be encouraged, if he disobeyed Mr President, who will now come to our rescue?
“Because we are in a state of war, because the governor does not listen to counsel, even the counsel of Mr. President, APC Rivers State is demanding for State of Emergency. It is the way out so that we can live in peace, because it would be too late to cry when the head is cut off.
“Let the army be deployed to takeover strategic places, let this moribund government be sent to the abyss and let Rivers State heave a sigh of relief otherwise, we’ll be crying when the head is off”.
The party chairman said it is necessary for Mr. President to intervene now before the situation degenerates to an unimaginable extent.
“The federal government should do what it should do so that it won’t get to a situation where we would be seeing fire everywhere.
“It’s better right now that we are able to assuage this very ugly scenario before the state would go aflame. They have unleashed non-state actors and they brandish guns without restrictions, the boys have been let loose and you will see the level of criminality in the state would be so unimaginable,” he said.
Okocha also urged the Federal Government to act fast citing the strategic role of Rivers State in the nation’s economy, stressing that if the state goes into flames, the nation’s economy would be badly affected.
The APC Chairman while frowning at the spate of killings and violence that has erupted in the state, said they were not necessary if the governor had listened to lawful counsel, expressing fear that the taking over of the councils by new caretaker committees could lead to violent confrontation from former chairmen.
Commenting on the just sworn-in Caretaker Committees, he said the governor is undercutting the judiciary by rushing to set up caretaker committees despite a matter concerning local government autonomy still pending before the Supreme Court and another judgement expected by the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt tommorow (Thursday).
The party boss said the governor was striving in illegality as he is using an Assembly that’s not properly constituted to screen and swear-in caretaker committees.
Meanwhile, Tony Okocha has distanced the Rivers State chapter of the APC from a comment made by former Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi wherein he said that eighty four percent of Nigerians are not happy with President Tinubu’s administration.
The party boss while condemning the statement said it does not represent the position of the party in the state.
He said that the APC in Rivers State concurs with the decision of the South South leadership of the party in her just concluded zonal meeting in Calabar, passing a confidence vote on President Tinubu and urging him to run for 2027.
“One would wonder why someone who led the franchise of Nigeria, who led the massive borrowing from China to come out after seven years from an ignoble government to say to the people that eighty four percent of Nigerians do not like Tinubu’s administration, it is false as far as we are concerned, and we use this opportunity as a party in the state to say to Nigerians and to let Mr. President know that he (Amaechi) spoke for himself and not for the APC Rivers State.
“That his personal animosity and idiosyncracy cannot override the interest of APC in Rivers State
“We dissociate APC Rivers State from that comment made by our former leader Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and to say that Rivers people and Nigerians support Mr President,” he said.
