The National Leader, South-South/Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin K. Clark, has called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the unfolding crisis in Rivers State “in the interest of his administration, the nation’s democracy, and the country at large”.
The Ijaw leader’s call is coming as the bitter power tussle between the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, deepens, with the state House of Assembly threatening to impeach the governor.
In a press statement on Monday, Chief Clark alleged that there was a plot to unlawfully remove Governor Fubara who has spent only about five months in office, urging President Tinubu to call Wike, who is currently the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and the security agencies in Rivers State to order to avert any untold crisis in the state.
“I understand the sad episode is being orchestrated by the immediate past Governor of Rivers State and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Nyesom Wike. And that the intention is to remove the Governor, force his deputy, Professor Ngozi Odu, to resign, and install the Speaker of the House of Assembly, another Ikwerre person, as the governor of the State. Let me warn strongly, we won’t allow that to happen!” Clark said.
“President Bola Tinubu must call Nyesom Wike and the security agencies in Rivers State to order, to avert any untold crisis in Rivers State,” he stated.
Clark made reference to the burning of “the hallowed chamber of the Rivers State House of Assembly…in what apparently is part of the plot to destabilize the state.
“The Governor was tear-gassed and was even threatened with being shot at when he visited the Assembly Complex after the incident, to assess the level of damage.
“We are not in a barbaric state where people can do whatever they like; we are in a democracy and the tenets of constitutional democracy must be upheld by all.
“Rivers people have suffered enough political crises, the state should not be allowed to degenerate again into its dark past, and the Niger Delta region by extension. The consequences would be dire for the stability of the region and the National Economy.
“What has Governor Fubara done wrong? Refusing to be further “remote controlled”?
“Mr. Nyesom Wike was Governor for eight years, nobody hassled him. He governed Rivers State like an Emperor, he did not show any iota of respect and regard to anyone, not even those who imposed him on Rivers people in 2015,” Clark said.
