Victor Ezeja
Caretaker committee chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state, Tony Okocha, on Thursday, disclosed that the attempt by President Bola Tinubu to broker peace between the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has failed.
Addressing a press conference at the APC national secretariat in Abuja following the developments in the state, including the peace move by Tinubu to patch up the strained relationship between Fubara and Wike, Okocha said: “I wasn’t part of it, but whatever that was, it has broken down, and it has been broken irreconcilably.”
Join our WhatsApp ChannelPrime Business Africa recalls that the president recently held a meeting with Wike and Fubara at the presidential villa in Abuja, to mediate between the two politicians in the state. In the last four days, the crisis assumed a new dimension with the demolition of the state House of Assembly Complex and defection of 27 members of the assembly loyal to Wike, to the APC.
Justifying the demolition, the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, in a statement on Wednesday, said the place was unsafe for human habitation because of the recent explosion and fire incident there.
The demolition of the chamber came as the four lawmakers loyal to Governor Fubara led by factional Speaker, Edison Ehie, held a plenary at the Government House, Port Harcourt, while the demolition was ongoing. Yesterday, the Governor presented a budget of N800bn for the 2024 fiscal year to four members of the Rivers Assembly who swiftly passed the appropriation bill.
READ ALSO: Rivers: I’m Not In Govt To Service Big Men, Fubara Declares Amid Feud With Wike
Today, the news broke that Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zacheaus Adangor, has resigned, disclosing that his exit from the government of Fubara in Rivers State was based on personal principles.
Okocha maintained that the four members of the State House of Assembly, led by the factional Speaker Edison Ehie, were focusing on criminality and that their actions would not be tolerated as they sat and approved the budget that Governor Fubara had offered them for the fiscal year 2024.
The APC state chairman however disclosed that the party was wooing Wike to defect to the party, stressing that he would become the party’s leader in Rivers State as soon as he became a member of the APC.
