A combined picture of President Bola Tinubu and Siminalayi Fubara
By Victory Oghene and Akeem Atoyebi
Gov. Siminilayi Fubara has insisted that Rivers was safe, secured and peaceful under his watch. Fubara said this on Tuesday in an address to the people of Rivers state on Tuesday in Port Harcourt after the pronouncement of emergency rule on the state by President Bola Tinubu.
The Governor who urged the people of Rivers to remain peaceful and law-abiding in the face of the state of emergency rule declared in the state added that his that administration had been guided by ‘’his constitutional oath of office and a great sense of duty’’ since his assumption of office as the Governor of Rivers.
Fubara said that he had prioritised the protection of lives and property and ensured the continuous progress of the state.
“Even in the face of the political impasse, we have remained committed to constitutional order and the rule of law, putting the interest of our people above all else.
“This was why, immediately after Mr President’s intervention to broker peace, we did not hesitate to implement the agreed terms in good faith, including welcoming back commissioners who had previously resigned on their own volition.
According to him, they moved swiftly to comply with the Supreme Court’s judgement immediately he received the certified true copy of the judgement to return the state to normalcy.
He stated that these steps were taken not for personal gains but to foster peace, unity and stability in our dear state.
“Unfortunately, at every turn, members of the Rivers State House of Assembly frustrated our efforts, thus making genuine peace and progress difficult,” he explained.
He stated that the priorities of his administration remained the security of lives and property and advancing the well-being and prosperity of Rivers people.
Fubara noted that though there was political disagreements in the state, good governance had continued, salaries were being paid, and great projects executed to move the state forward.
He stated that in all, the state was safe, secured and peaceful under his watch.
Fubara said that Rivers people had always been resilient people, and would continue to face the situation with wisdom, patience, and unwavering faith in the democratic process.
“We will engage with all relevant institutions to ensure that our democracy remains strong and the Rivers State continues to thrive,” Fubara said.
In the same vein, several South-South leaders and stakeholders have decried President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State and impropriety of brazenly backing the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the state’s citizens
According to the one-time Attorney General of Akwa Ibom State, Uwemedimo Nwoko, SAN, the decision to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State was ill-advised.
“The president’s action is not well thought out. The situation in Rivers State has not met any of the conditions prescribed by the constitution for the declaration of a state of emergency by the president. It falls short of it.
“So the president’s action is ill-advised and not based on the provisions of the Constitution. For me, it is part of a script to take over the control of Rivers State, which they had already written and have been acting stage-by-stage and scene-by-scene.”
Former President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Eric Omare Esq., said: “President Tinubu took a wrong decision; I strongly condemn his one-sided action, and again, removing Governor Fubara won’t solve the problem.”
“The President’s intervention in the Rivers State crisis has been one-sided. His actions and body language have encouraged the FCT Minister, Wike, to fuel the crisis up to this point.
“If Governor Fubara is blamed for not doing enough to handle the situation, what has the president done in response to Wike’s unnecessary outbursts, which laid the foundation for the tension in the past week?
“I think that an unbiased president should have called Wike to order or sack him to demonstrate his unbiased position in this matter. But from the onset, the president has been biased in favor of Wike, and that has not helped in the resolution of the crisis.
Meanwhile the apex socio-political body for the South-South geopolitical zone, the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, said on Tuesday it was studying the situation and would soon come up with its position.A statement yesterday by PANDEF’s National Spokesman, Chief Obiuwevbi Ominimini, read: ‘’PANDEF is seriously alarmed by the state of emergency declared in Rivers State due to a crisis that is ordinarily avoidable. We are, therefore, studying the situation and we shall soon come up with Pandef’s position.”
According to Amaebi Clarkson, former national spokesman of the Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND), “I am sure the governor would challenge the constitutionality or legality of the state of emergency. But politically, the emergency is in bad faith and obviously, the execution of a well-oiled script hatched in furtherance of the 2027 election.’’
“The president did not act like a president of the entire nation, but rather he took sides with his minister to punish the governor and left out any punishment to his appointee. He executed the plan of Wike.
“Firstly, Wike goaded the Ijaw by going to their homeland to provoke them, but he did get the needed reaction. Then the next day, there was an explosion in an oil facility, and shortly before the broadcast, there was another explosion, which he hinged upon as one of the core reasons for the declaration.
Also reacting , The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Worldwide, has strongly decried the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, describing it as a clear “case of oppression and intimidation of Ijaw people.”
Spokesman of IYC, Amb Binebai Princewill, said: “We condemn the state of emergency declared on Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu, the reason being that we have states that have been boiling and grappling with insurgency; Boko Haram and herdsmen have held sway, perhaps, because it is Ijaw matter.
“We see it as a case of oppression and intimidation meted out on the Ijaw people and the people of Rivers State in particular, and for the man who fuelled the whole crisis—nothing has been done or said about him.”
An elder statesman and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Hon Charles Idahosa, said the declaration of a state of emergency by President Tinubu was an opportunity for the warring parties to find a meeting point and resolve the political crisis in the state.”
“Fubara did not thread softly at all; all the politically hungry people in Rivers State took advantage of it by giving him wrong advice. Now that the president has declared a state of emergency, this is the time for them to take the opportunity—himself, the legislators, and the Minister of the FCT should come together and find a solution to their differences.
“They should see if they can prevail on the presidency to find a solution to the crisis in these first six months because it will be very difficult for the presidency to be calling them. He did that before, but they did not listen.”
Recall thatb In a national broadcast on Tuesday, Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers, following the lingering political crisis in the state.
The President said it had become compelling for him to invoke the provision of section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, to declare a state of emergency in Rivers with effect from March 18.
Tinubu, through the declaration, suspended Gov. Siminalayi Fubara and Deputy Gov., Mrs Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the House of Assembly of Rivers for a period of six-month.
The President, therefore, nominated Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd.) as Administrator to take charge of the affairs of the stated during the period.
