With the political crisis in Rivers State unabating, a former governor of Rivers State, Chief Rufus Ada George has called on politicians to embrace peace and cease using provocative comments in the interest of the state.
This as two members of the House of Representatives from the state attributed the political crisis to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrsiter Nyesom Wike. They therefore called on President Bola Tinubu to caution the immediate past governor of the state.
George, who presided over the state in the now defunct Third Republic between 1992 and 1993, said in a statement he signed: “I am deeply pained and worried over these embarrassing events and flagrant demonstration of impunity, power, and lawlessness because of the grave danger they portend to the peace and security of Rivers state and Nigeria as a whole”.
“As the oldest former Governor of Rivers state, I call on all former Governors and their deputies to close ranks, come together, and collectively and frankly speak to our younger colleagues in the best interest of the state.
“Remember, we are duty bound to intervene in times like this by prioritising Rivers State first and above all other personal, sectional, and parochial interests”.
The political crisis engulfing the state has taken a new twist with the demolition of the House of Assembly complex, which has necessitated the 27 lawmaker house to sit within the premises of the Assembly quarters. The state also has two factional parliaments with each claiming constitutionality.
The House of Representatives lawmakers representing Akuku Toru/Asari Toru, Hon. Boma Goodhead; and her counterpart for Andoni/Opobo/Nkoro, Hon. Awaji Abiante blamed Wike for the political crisis in the state.
The lawmakers, who spoke to newsmen at the premises of the demolished complex of the state House of Assembly in Port Harcourt, the sate capitl, said that pulling down of the entire structure of the Assembly building would pave way for total renovation of the structure, and cautioned the state lawmakers, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress to stop being used as political stooge.
The lawmakers and their supporters, who staged solidarity walk from the UTC junction to the Assembly complex in Port Harcourt in support of Governor Siminalayi Fubara over the political crisis in the state, praised the governor for the demolition of the burnt structure, and countered Wike for causing political unrest in the state.
Also, the President General of the Ijaw National Congress, Prof. Benjamin Okoba; and the Chairman of Ijaw Youth Council (Eastern zone), Mr. Tamuno Kporkpor, said that the Ijaw nation might not be able to guarantee the safety of the oil installations in their land if the FCT Minister continues to make governance difficult for Fubara.
Okaba told newsmen during a solidarity walk by different social cultural groups and some House of Representatives members to the state Government House, that President Bola Tinubu should call Wike to order to avert a break down of law and order in the state.
The political logjam in the state, orchestrated by the powerplay between Wike and his erstwhile godson, Fubara provoked the the solidarity walk.
For Kporkpor, he wondered why anyone would want the governor out of office without any evidence of infraction.
On the fate of the lawmakers whose seats had been declared vacant, Kporkpor described them as the architect of their own misfortune.
The groups said that the protests would continue until Fubara heaves a sigh of relief.
