•Declares peace deal not constitutional, but soft-landing for legislators
•Says he’s shown restraint despite having all instruments of state powers
Chigozie Amadi
Rivers State Governor, Mr Siminalayi Fubara, has slammed members of the state House of Assembly, led by Hon. Martin Amaewhule, saying the 27 lawmakers no longer exist as legislators in the eyes of the law.
Fubara explained that in seeking peaceful resolution to the political crisis that erupted in the state last year, owing to disagreements with his erstwhile political godfather, Nyesom Wike, he had attended several reconciliation meetings, whose resolutions the other party had rebuffed.
Fubara made the assertions yesterday, when he received on courtesy visit, a Bayelsa State delegation of political and traditional leaders, led by former governor of the state, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, at Government House, Port Harcourt.
The governor regretted that despite his effort to adhere to the presidential pact on the political crisis in the state last year, the other party continued to distract his government.
He stated, “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 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 are 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 recognise them, they are nowhere, that is the truth.”
The governor maintained that he had acted like the big brother in the crisis, who was not interested in destroying the house, so that meaningful development could continue to be engendered in the state while securing tenable political relationship.
He 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 lightening.”
Fubara said when he assumed office, it was with the resolve to build on the existing foundation of development of past leaders, especially the immediate past governor.
He emphasised that it would have been out of the ordinary to engage in any political fight when there was so much work to be done for the state and the people.
“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,” he said.
According to the governor, “I am also happy that you even mentioned the issues, even when I have all the instruments of state power. I have shown restraint, and I believe that whoever is alive and have been following the activities of our dear state, knows that I have acted as a big brother in the course of this 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.”
Earlier, Dickson said their visit was to demonstrate solidarity with Fubara and Rivers people who had shown maturity in the face of the political crisis for stability and development to thrive.
