The removed Chairman of Port Harcourt Local Government Area, Ezebunwo Ichemati, has dismissed as false and misleading the reports that suspended Rivers State Governor, Siminialayi Fubara, recently knelt before his predecessor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to beg for forgiveness.
According to the reports, Fubara had met with Wike in Abuja as part of a broader reconciliation effort aimed at resolving the lingering political crisis in Rivers State.
The meeting was reportedly facilitated by two governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a former Southwest governor.
It was alleged that during the meeting, Fubara knelt and pleaded with Wike to forgive him and help reinstate him as governor. He was also said to have travelled abroad afterwards to meet President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was out of the country at the time.
However, Ichemati has described the narrative as mere propaganda. He insisted there was no truth to the claim that Fubara knelt or lay down before anyone to regain political favour, stressing that the reports were fabricated to mislead the public.
He said: “Someone who did not lie down on the ground to beg or lobby to be governor, cannot also do the same to remain as one.
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“In war, no one party takes all the blame, so needless is the propaganda of a particular group begging.
“Genuine reconciliation comes with negotiations and shifting of grounds by all the parties involved and not begging.”
Ichemati asked members of the public to ignore the lies, saying they should not believe everything.
He said Fubara was in high spirits and committed to the peace and development of Rivers, insisting that he would not do so with his knees on the ground.
He said: “Ignore the lies of begging, even if you be mumu no be every lie you suppose hear and believe na, even if it tickles your fancy or massages your camp’s ego.
“We need peace for the development of Rivers State. Governor Siminalayi Fubara is in very high spirits and passionately committed to the peaceful development of Rivers State, one he’ll not do with his knees on the ground, no matter how humble you think he is.”