By Akinwale Kasali
The defection tsunami that rocked the Rivers State House of Assembly during which 27 Lawmakers loyal to Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC, has prompted the Ijaw National Congress, INC, to urge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call Wike to order.
Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his ‘Political godfather’ Wike, has been having a running battle which divided thw Rivers State House of Assembly into two unequal parts, with Wike in control of the majority.
The INC had earlier appealed with both Wike and Fubara to bury their hatchet for the growth and development of the State. But the situation took a different turn following the defection of 27 Lawmakers from the PDP to the APC on Monday. Those who defected are Wike’s loyalists.
Sensing that impeachment is in the offing for Governor Fubara, the Ijaw National Congress has called on President Tinubu to prevail on Wike and his loyalists to stop their moves aimed at sacking the Governor Fubara.
The INC in a statement signed by its President, Prof Benjamin Okaba, on Monday, said it was curious that despite previous interventions by Tinubu and other critical stakeholders, Wike was bent on ensuring the impeachment of Fubara.
It condemned what it labelled as open support by security agencies for the Martins Amaewhule-led faction of the state lawmakers loyal to Wike, whom they gave protection to hold a sitting against a subsisting court order requiring all parties to maintain the status quo and to take no official actions until further notice.
The statement read in part: “Mr President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, we implore you once again to call Mr Wike and those Federal Government agencies and agents who are putting Rivers State at risk of anarchy, to order. Such elements are inimical to the stability of Nigeria sooner or later.
“ Mr Wike has also featured on several network TV stations where he made very provocative statements and scandalous claims against Governor Fubara; accusing the governor of attempting to ‘take over’ his ‘structure’, openly taunting him as an ingrate who is lacking in integrity as well as asserting without investigation that the governor masterminded the burning down of the hallowed chamber of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“Is Mr Wike at liberty to make scandalous, libellous and inciting comments without fear of sanction from the security agencies or even Mr President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu?
“Is Wike the C-in-C of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, such that those on national assignments in Rivers State now act according to his whims and caprices or those he supports, in the push to impeach or make Rivers State ungovernable for His Excellency Governor Siminialayi Fubara, as he publicly boasted? As we glean from history, can law-abiding citizens suffer such intolerable lawlessness orchestrated by one man, indefinitely?
“We, therefore, submit to Mr President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that Ijaw National Congress Worldwide, its affiliate bodies, substructures and activists are direly concerned by the impunity and indecorous conduct by a Minister of the Federal Government and the apparent connivance of those who ought to curb his excesses.”
The INC which is the apex pan-Ijaw socio-cultural organisation however commended Fubara for his calm and mature disposition in the face of insults and provocations by the FCT minister, noting that “such conduct is becoming of a civilised leader and statesman.”
It also lauded the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers and other stakeholders who, the INC said, put the interest of the State above other interests.
It urged all Rivers people and well-meaning Nigerians to stand with Fubara “to protect our democratic institutions and ensure that justice and the will of the masses prevail.”
