Tag: Fubara

Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his predecessor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, exchanged pleasantries on Tuesday, October 31, at the State House, Abuja.

Fubara and Wike are attending a meeting of the Police Council, which is chaired by the president and has the 36 governors, the Minister of the FCT, the chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) as members.

Fubara and Wike, who are at the heart of the political crisis that blew open in the capital of Rivers state, Port Harcourt, on Monday, October 30, were seen outside the Council Chambers of the State House, shaking hands.

Some of the governors, including Wike and the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, were sighted as they engaged in an aside discussion while others engaged in exchanging banters.

In the ensuing development, Wike later proceeded to shake hands and briefly exchange pleasantries with Governor Fubara after he had disengaged from the NSA.

It is the first time the Rivers State governor (decked in a white Kaftan) and his estranged godfather, Wike (also spotted in a white kaftan) met face to face since the beginning of the reported spat between them. 

The political atmosphere in Port Harcourt suddenly turned chaotic on Monday when the State House of Assembly, split between the governor and his predecessor, with both sides making counter moves.

While the Wike group sacked the Leader of the House, Edison Ehie and later served a notice of impeachment on Governor Fubara, the governor’s loyalist in the House in turn sacked the Speaker, Martins Amaewhule, and replaced him with Ehie as the new speaker.

Leaders of thought in Rivers State across ethnic and political divides have however called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the crisis in order to forestall a total breakdown of law and order in the state.

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The security operatives around while both men were exchanging pleasantries could however not allow journalists to capture the moment in pictures, moving or still.

The Police Council is meeting to confirm the appointment of Kayode Egbetokun as substantive Inspector-General of Police.

According to the web search results, the last time the Nigeria Police Council met was on June 4, 2021, when President Muhammadu Buhari presided over the meeting of the council at the State House.

Some of the state governors sighted and headed to attend today’s event are Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Dapo Abiodun- (Ogun), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Abdullahi Abba (Kano), Bassey Ottu (Cross River), among others.

Rivers state governor, Siminalayi Fubara has vowed to resist any attempt by anybody to disrupt governance in the state under the cover of impeachment.

The governor in a statement signed by his senior special assistant, media, Boniface Onyedi, also recognised Edison Ehie, as the new speaker of the House of Assembly.

Ehie, who was sacked on Monday, October 30, as the leader of the House by 24 anti-Fubara lawmakers was elected a speaker by pro-Fubara legislators after a plenary in Government House.

Fubara in the statement assured Rivers people that he was ready to defend their interests and that of the state.

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He insisted that persons planning his impeachment must come clean and list his offences.

He said: “If Siminalayi Fubara is impeached, I am not the first, neither will I be the last. But what is important is any attempt that is not justified will be resisted. Let them come out and tell Rivers people the offence that I have committed to warrant impeachment.”

Fubara acknowledged the massive turnout of Rivers people following the plan to impeach him as an indication that they were willing to protect the interest of the state.

The governor stated: “Let me assure Rivers people that I will continue to defend Rivers State, protect the people and make sure that you all enjoy the dividends of democracy.”

Fubara urged Ehie, who represents Ahoada East Constituency II, to uphold the sanctity of the law and legislature.

The Rivers State Government has denied reports Governor Siminalayi Fubara sacked some of his aides and ordered the removal of local government chairmen as part of his plan to counter moves by the House Assembly to impeach him.

The Commissioner for Information and Communication, Warisenibo Johnson said he had not been directed by the Governor to make such announcement.

Johnson, in a statement on Tuesday, said: “There had been unfounded reports making the rounds on various media platforms about His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, sacking certain categories of his aides and local council chairmen.

“This is to clarify that His Excellency has not given me such directive as the official spokesman of the  State government as at today Tuesday, October 31, 2023.

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“Our dear governor is a technocrat, with robust civil service background, kind hearted and a  very humane person who does things according to laid down rules and with the fear of God.

“We therefore ask Rivers people and the general public to jettison such unconfirmed reports as the public will be properly informed of who may have been removed  by His Excellency at the appropriate time.

“It is pertinent to note that as the Commissioner for Information and Communication, I shall keep the public updated of events in due course”.

Rivers state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has condemned attempts by some compromised police officers to kill him.

The governor said he was shot at directly with the intention to assassinate him while on his way to assess the extent of damage done by the explosion that rocked the State House of Assembly complex.

He said: “The truth is that, everybody who knows me know that I am a peaceful person. I can never ever, even if I am aware that there is a plot to impeach me for whatever reason be part of such destruction.

“I am worried that a facility like this that we used taxpayers money to build will be destroyed for selfish reason just to please somebody. From what I have seen, even the security is compromised because they were shooting at me directly. The DC operations was shooting at me”.

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Fubara commended Rivers youths for standing uo to protect the interest of Rivers saying he was not scared about impeachment but such action had to be properly explained and justified.

He said: “If Siminalayi Fubara is impeached, I won’t be the first, neither will I be the last. But what is important is that any attempt that is not justified will be resisted. Let them come out and tell Rivers people the offence that I have committed to warrant impeachment.

“But my happiness this morning is that the people of Rivers State represented by everyone of you here is with us. I can go home and sleep. Let me assure Rivers people that we will continue to defend them, protect you people and ensure that they will enjoy the dividends of democracy.”

Speaking at the development, the Coordinator, Sim Movement, Tonye Cookeygam, called for the protection of democracy saying the three arms of government must work within the ambit of the law.

He wondered while the legislative arm without prompting initiated an impeachment proceeding against the governor, who he said was barely seven months in office.

He said: “I don’t understand what the problem is the governor has been very loyal to the former governor of the State. The three arms of government should observed the doctrine of separation of power. Why should the legislative arm of the government without prompting initiate an impeachment process for a man that is barely seven months in office.

“You can see the level of development in the State as regards several projects initiated by the State government. I was expecting that the projects initiated by the state government would have been lined up for commissioning.

“The governor has done well within the period he is in power. He has carried out several projects. So, on what basis do you want to impeach the governor. On what basis are all these things taking place.

“We say absolutely no to all that is happening in the state. As Rivers people we cannot fold our arms and allow few persons that have ulterior motive to take laws into their hands.”