By Adesina Soyooye
Asks Congregation: “Does God give you a gift or a blessing and add sorrow to it”
A helpless Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has said he has been abandoned by those he began his political journey with. And, for that, he says he is going through pain, and low in spirit.
The Governor who was apparently referring to the absence of even most of his Cabinet members at a Thanksgiving Service he held at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Opobo Town, Oppbo Nkoro Local Government, Rivers State, to celebrate his victory at the Supreme Court, asked the Congregation: “Does God give you a gift or a blessing and add sorrow to it?”
He acknowledged that he became a Governor thanks to God, and also acknowledged the happiness in the faces of the congregants, still helplessly noted: “But the question is, am I happy? That is the question, am I happy”?
He, also, said that the political situation in his State has affected him and his family emotionally. And the result: “My family is suffering. My spirit is heavy.”
Said the Governor to the Congregation: “I feel heavy in my spirit. It’s not been easy, I can say it.
“I want to ask a question. When I look at your faces, I see so much excitement, I see happiness. But the question is, am I happy? That is the question, am I happy?
“Does God give you a gift or a blessing and add sorrow to it?
“So when I look at your faces how happy you are, even when I feel heavy in my spirit. I’m encouraged to be happy. That’s how I feel. It’s not been easy, I can say it.
“A lot of people who started this journey with us, ought to have been here with us but unfortunately they are not here. God knows why. You can’t question the almighty. But one thing we can’t take away is that God does not make any mistakes.
“It is a glory to say thank you to God. It gives me extra energy to continue with the battle. It is a battle, but no battle can be bigger than God.”
Fubara has been battling with governance since he fell out with the man who foisted him on Rivers State as Governor, his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
The rift has polarised the State with the majority of political appointees in the State and 27 out of 32 members of the House of Assembly, loyal to Wike instead of the Governor.
Fubara appreciated President Bola Tinubu who intervened in the rift between him and Wike, even though the President’s intervention has not worked.
He said: “I want to thank my family. They are suffering, that is the truth. They are suffering because of this cause. You just have to be strong and understand that after a while, you will get me back.
“Maybe, I will take the birthday happiness to make myself happier than I was when I was coming. But in all, I want to ask that you all continue to pray for peace.
“We came in, we were selected because they believe we have something to do for our state. We have not been given the opportunity to do those things that we ought to do.
“We have had a lot of distractions but I strongly believe that while we navigate the part of peace, prayer is also needed for us to pass over this phase.
“We need peace, total peace on all sides so that we can focus and deliver the dividends of democracy. And this victory I dedicate it to peace,” Governor Fubara said.
Fubara turned 49 years on Sunday.
