Fubara to Wike: Let go of Rivers State, you can’t win all battles

…LG secretariats torched by hoodlums

…Bode George urges Wike to allow Fubara to work

Sim Fubara, Rivers State governor, has asked Nyesom Wike, his predecessor, to allow peace to reign in the state.

He stated this during the Channels TV’s ‘Politics Today’ on Monday, stressing that he had kept all understanding with Wike to ensure peace in the state but to no avail.

“There is nothing I have not done on this earth for peace to reign. I can tell you the number of times I have knelt to beg that let’s allow this issue to go. I have done everything,” Fubara said.

He told Wike to let go of Rivers State and allow peace to reign.

“I will tell him (Wike) that it has gotten to a point where he needs to let go. We need peace in this state,” Fubara noted.

“You don’t necessarily need to win all the fights. At times, you just let go for the sake of the good people of Rivers State and the love that you have always profess for the state. We need to secure the state.

“Fubara will leave tomorrow. Who knows who is going come. It might be through him or through another person but we need to secure the state.”

Read also: Tinubu directs police to secure Rivers LG secretariat

The Mayhem

Rivers State was thrown into crisis on Monday, a day after the swearing in of 22 winners of the controversial Saturday local government elections in the state.

A day after the swearing-in, hoodlums began attacking Ikwerre Local Government Area, burning office equipment, files, chairs and tables, and equipment.

They also set Eleme and Emohua local government secretariats ablaze. Between three and five persons were feared dead in the attacks on Monday.

Little excitement over Tinubu’s message

President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, directed Kayode Egbetokun, police inspector-general, to secure Rivers State’s local government secretariats following arsons that took place on Monday.

In a statement released by Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to President Tinubu on information & strategy, the president directed the Nigeria police to immediately restore peace across the state, particularly at local government secretariats, where arson and unrest had taken place.

“President Bola Tinubu has called on Governor Siminalayi Fubara, political leaders and their supporters in Rivers State to exercise restraint and uphold the rule of law. In response to recent tensions following last Saturday’s local government council election, the President expressed deep concern over reports of arson and explosions in the state.”

Read also: APP sweeps 22 out of 23 LGAs in controverial Rivers State election

Leave Fubara to work, George tells Wike

Meanwhile, Olabode George, former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), urged Wike to allow Fubara to work.

In a statement on Monday, George said, “Now that people of Rivers State have boldly asserted their civic and constitutional rights by coming out to vote in the Local Government election on Saturday, this is the time for former governor of the state and now FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to allow Governor Siminalayi Fubara work and deliver dividend of democracy to the people.

“This is also the time for President Bola Tinubu to advise Wike, who is one of his ministers, to allow the governor to work.

“I say this with all sense of responsibility because if this democracy is truncated, God forbid, Tinubu, as the Commander-in-Chief, will be the biggest loser.

“All lovers of democracy will agree with me that political happenings in this oil-bearing state in the last few months, if allowed to continue, can lead to a re-enactment of the crisis in the defunct Western Region between 1962 and 1966 which eventually led to the first military coup of January 15, 1966. Many of our national figures were killed and events of that day led to a second coup on July 29, 1966, when scores of military officers were killed.

“Since history is no longer taught in our schools, I want to remind the gladiators in this Rivers crisis that the January and July 1966 killings eventually led to the civil war between July 6, 1967 and January 15, 1970. Close to two million Nigerians died in the war.”