National Leader, South-South, Pan Niger Delta Development Forum, PANDEF, Chief E. K. Clark, has called on President Ahmed Tinubu to urgently address the issues in Rivers State to avert untold crisis.
Chief Clark made the call during a press briefing on the situation in Rivers State.
“I have been greatly disturbed by the reported developments in Rivers State in the last 24 hours. I have been reliably informed that there is a plot to unlawfully remove the Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency, Siminalaye Fubara, who has spent only about 5 months in office.
“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!
“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 said.
The Ijaw leader from Delta state recalled how the hallowed chamber of the Rivers State House of Assembly was burnt, in what he described as a part of the plot to destabilize the State.
He noted that the sitting Governor was tear-gassed and threatened with being shot at, when he visited the Assembly Complex after the incident, to assess the level of damage, stressing that “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”.
Chief Clark said Rivers people have suffered enough political crises, warning that the state and the Niger Delta region by extension, should not be allowed to degenerate again into its dark past, as its 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 8 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” he added
The South South national leader PANDEF, urged President Tinubu to act fast and avert the unfolding crisis in Rivers State in the interest of his administration, the nation’s democracy, and the Country at large.
NIM