By Charles Igbo
In a rare public display, former Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili, has shown solidarity with the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara.
Odili, a Medical Doctor, who delved into politics, was a two-time Governor of Rivers State beginning from 1999 to 2007. He is regarded, in not a few quarters, as the father of modern Rivers State and political godfather of most successful Rivers State Politicians, beginning from 1999. They passed through his tutelage and guidance. And all the Governors, since after him, but for Fubara, passed through him. They were his “boys”. Celestine Omehia. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. Nyesom Wike. Like a collosus, many say, Odili bestrode both the local and national politics when he was Governor.
But, after he was brazenly short-changed and betrayed in his bid to occupy the Presidential seat after President Olusegun Obasanjo, he quietly gave politics some space. Even though he remained a Board of Trustees member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, he refused and/or avoided to be dragged publicly into national or local politics. Even though Odili remained as influential as ever in Rivers Politics, he did that quietly, from the background, no noise, just very effective.
Since Wike and his estranged political godson, Fubara, threw Rivers State into a political crisis, unprecedented in the State, Odili has remained himself. No public statement.
But not a few people were excited when he surfaced at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on the day President Bola Tinubu invited Fubara and Wike and some stakeholders to make peace between them. It was the day Fubara was literally stripped of his powers as a Governor. He was forced to reverse most decisions he took when the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, loyal to Wike, tried to impeach him.
For instance, he was forced to take back all the Wike loyalists in his Cabinet, imposed on him (by Wike), but who resigned on their own volition in solidarity with Wike. He did. He was asked to represent the 2024 Budget which he presented to his loyalists in the House of Assembly, who had since passed it, and which he had signed. He has not done that yet because, for the records, the members, all of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, like the Governor, and well, Wike too, suddenly dumped the Party for the All Progressives Congress, APC, a party under which Wike is serving as a powerful Minister, even though he still insists he is PDP. There is the controversy whether they should vacate their seat as the electoral law dictates, or not. Fubara was, also, ordered not to appoint Caretaker Committee Members for Local Government Areas, something all the Governors do all the time pending when it is convenient for them to hold a “proper” Council election.
Even though Odili was present when these orders were handed down, he said nothing and made no known public statements. But his body language showed where he stands on the unfortunate situation in Rivers State.
For instance, Odili is present at any of Governor Fubara’s functions which requires his presence. Fubara was present at the Convocation Ceremony of the PAMO University of Medical Sciences, an institution which Odili is the Chief Promoter. His daughter, Mrs Adaeze Ore, an accomplished and celebrated Medical Doctor, did not resign from Fubara’s Cabinet when most others resigned. And, like Odili, Fubara has continued to preach peace in the face of a number of seen and unseen humiliations and condescending indirect and direct references to him.
However, onTuesday, March 5, Dr Odili publicly showed support for Governor Fubara. In a congratulatory message in National Newspapers, Odili congratulated Governor Fubara for winning the high profile Peace Advocate Award given by the Silverbird Group.
In the message, splashed on full pages of, at least, two National Newspapers, Odili referred to Fubara as “OUR GOVERNOR”
Dr. Odili began the message which he titled: “TO OUR GOVERNOR Sir Siminalayi Fubara, KSC, GSSRS” with a quote attributed to Pope John Paul 11.
The message reads:
Pope John Paul 11 once said, ‘Do not be afraid to take a chance on peace…Peace will be the last word of history.’
“Thank you, Your Excelency, for summoning the courage to embody peace in all its ramifications for the advancement of our dear Rivers State, and congratulations on your well-deserved award of PEACE ADVOCATE by the Silverbird Group.
“Signed: Dr. Peter Odili CON”
Governor Fubara is said to have the support of the masses of Rivers State in his “political disagreement” with Wike. In addition, he has the support of Rivers State Elders, some of whom have gone to Court to contest the order handed to him (Fubara) during the Aso Rock meeting by President Tinubu. With Odili’s behind the scene support and the public congratulatory message, Fubara is entitled to work with some swagger.
No wonder he has been talking and attending meetings. He is like a bird freed from its cage. For instance, he has been attending meetings of PDP Governors, something he couldn’t, and dared not, do before. He has been traveling when he wishes to, something he couldn’t quite do before. Even his wife, Rivers State First Lady could hardly do something, and still has not quite started, as such, to do something. Not a few people insist her, alleged, experience before still hunts her. She was, allegedly, forced to disembark from an aircraft he boarded from the Porthacourt Airport to Abuja, for a meeting with First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu, because, she was warned not to dare attend such meetings, nor start any project like other State First Ladies.
Fubara has been making appointments freely, something he couldn’t do before, and which, allegedly, put him in trouble with Wike in the first instance, for daring to make two appointments into his own Cabinet!
It is, however, not known if he is still paying an, alleged, monthly sum of N2.5billion he was, allegedly, making as agreed before he was sworn-in as Governor.
For now, peace reigns in Rivers State, peace of the graveyard, they say, until 2027 gets nearer.
