Aso-Rock, Abuja – President Bola Tinubu has reacted to the Rivers state political crisis, saying that he foresaw the problem before now and made an attempt to restore peace in the state.
The president made this known while addressing the leaders of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) on Tueday, March 11. The president urged the leaders to go back home and settle the crisis using the instrument of the law.
PANDEF is the mouthpiece of the states in the Niger Delta region and Rivers is one of them. At the meeting, there was one minute silence for the late leader of the forum, Sir Edwin Clark, who died in February.
According to the president, one of his efforts to restore peace in the state was that he had meetings with parties involved, and they had a written agreement. Tinubu then called for respect for the agreement and urged PANDEF leaders to settle the matter according to the law.
See Tinubu’s video here:
When did Wike and Fubara’s rift start?
There has been a rift between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the immediate past governor of the state, who is currently the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, over the political structure in the state.
The crisis started barely six months after Fubara resumed the office of power and the state house of assembly, with 27 of the 31 members of the lawmakers on the side of Wike, initiated the move to impeach the governor.
Suspension of the impeachment proceeding was said to be one of the agreements signed by the parties in the crisis.
How Rivers political crisis escalated
However, the crisis did not end there and it went on with the governor relating with three members of the house as he alleged that 27 others have lost their seats when they announced they have dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The governor’s position was challenged up to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the state’s allocation should be seized until the governor complies with the court order recognising the 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike as the authentic assembly.
The apex court also nullified the local government election conducted by the governor stating that it contravened the state electoral law. The court explained that the government is not complete if the House of Assembly is not allowed to function effectively.
Wike vs Fubara: Niger Delta groups issued threat
Legit.ng earlier reported that the federal government has been warned by the INC, IYC and other groups that oil production would be destabilised in Rivers should Governor Siminalayi Fubara be impeached.
According to the groups, the lawmakers loyal to former governor and FCT minister Nyesom Wike should not use the Supreme Court judgment as a ground to impeach the governor.
