Fubara Draws Battle Line, Bars Local Chairmen, Others From Honouring Assembly Invitation
GOVERNOR Siminalayi Fubara-led Rivers State government appears to have drawn the battle line with the Martins Amaewhule-led Rivers State House of Assembly as it has barred all heads of local government administration from honouring invitations from the Assembly or appearing before it.
A memo addressed to all heads of local government administration dated 7th May 2024 and signed by Ebirieneuket, Nteile C., Director, Information and Communications, Local Government Service Commission (LGSC), says the directive applies to all 23 council areas of the state.
The memo is reproduced below.
7th May,2024.
TO: ALL HEADS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
WARNINGS AGAINST APPEARANCE BEFORE MEMBERS OF ASSEMBLY.
I am directed to inform you/ all officers of the 23 Local Government Councils in Rivers State, not to honour/appear before the Members of Assembly or any purported invitation by anybody or group of persons in any guise without the permission of the Acting Chairman- Local Government Service Commission.
Any staff who disobeys or violates this instruction will be dismissed accordingly from service.
Treat as very important, please.
Ebirieneuket, Nteile C.
(Dir.Info.& Communications- LGSC)
For: The Chairman.
Eighteen-Eleven Media reports that only on Monday Governor Fubara said the lawmakers, who are believed to be loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, no longer exist in the eyes of the law.
According to the governor, ”Let me say it here, those group of men who claim that they are Assembly members, they are not existing. I want it to be on record.
“I accepted that peace accord to give them a floating (soft-landing). That’s the truth. There is nothing in that peace accord that is a constitutional issue.
“It is a political solution to a problem. I accepted it because these were people that were visiting me and we were together in my house.
“These are people that I have helped… in many ways when I wasn’t even a governor. Yes, we might have our disagreements but I believe that one day, we could also come together. That was the reason I did it.
“But I think it has gotten to a time when I need to make a statement on this thing so that they understand that they are not existing. Their existence and whatever they have been doing is because I allowed them to do so. If I don’t recognize them, they are nowhere, that is the truth.”
The governor spoke when he received on courtesy visit the Bayelsa delegation of political and traditional leaders led by former Governor Henry Seriake Dickson at Government House in Port Harcourt on Monday.
The governor, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Nelson Chukwudi, explained that despite his overtures, his detractors on the other side had refused to implement all the resolutions of many reconciliations involving them.
The governor said he had acted like the big brother in the crisis, not interested in destroying the ‘house’, to allow meaningful development to continue in the state.
Fubara said: “But I know that I have always taken the path of peace. I have shown respect. I’ve subjected myself to every meeting of reconciliation for peace. And what happens, each time we come out from such meetings, we are faced with one thunder or lightning.”
The governor said he assumed office with the resolve to build on the existing foundation of development of past leaders, especially the immediate past governor.
He said it would have been out of the ordinary to engage in any political battle when there was so much work to be done for the state and its people as their governor.
He said he strongly felt that it was proper to set some records straight about what had become of a minor problem that was not uncommon in every human relationship.
Fubara stated: “But it is a bad thing when the problem that ought not to be anything, becomes something, and in fact, gets out of the bedroom to the sitting room and to the compound. That is the case of Rivers State today.
“I am also happy that you even mentioned the issues, even when I have all the instruments of state powers. I have shown restraint, and I believe that whoever is alive and has been following the activities of our dear state, knows that I have acted as a big brother in the course of this crisis.
“I have not acted like a young man who may want the house to be destroyed but I have behaved like the mature young man that I am. This is because I know that no meaningful development will be achieved in an atmosphere of crisis.
“And because our intention for Rivers State is to build on the foundation that had been laid by our past leaders, it will be wrong for me to take the path of promoting crisis. That is why we are still recording the development that you are hearing around Rivers State.”
Fubara insisted that there was nothing wrong in one helping another person but it did not arrogate to the helper the place of God.
He said God will remain God and could sometimes cause one’s enemy to be a willing vessel to bring about one’s promotion in life.
He said: “God can do anything He wants to do when He wants to do it. It is only for us to realise that. God will not come down from Heaven but will pass through one man or woman to achieve His purpose.
“So, for that reason, when we act, we act as humans; human vessels that God has used, and not seeing yourself as God.
“I want to say this clearly that we appreciate the role our leaders, most especially the immediate past governor, played. But that is not enough for me to worship a human being. I can’t do that”.
He said whereas he had restrained himself from using the instruments of the state to harass anybody, his opponents were daily harassing his supporters.
Fubara said: “So, I want you to see the sacrifice I have made to allow peace to be in our state. I can say here, with all amount of boldness, I have never called any policeman anywhere to go and harass anybody.
“I have never gone anywhere to ask anybody to do anything against anybody. But what happens to the people that are supporting me? They are being harassed, they are being arrested and detained. There is no week that somebody doesn’t come here with one letter of invitation for trump-up charges and all those things.
“I am saying all these because of what my senior said here: restrain. I don’t think the other party has shown any restraint. I am the one that has shown restraint in the face of this crisis.
“I am the one that is badly hit, even when I have all the government instruments to shake up the table. But, why will I do it? I believe that peace is the best relationship to cultivate.”
Eighteen-Eleven Media
