The Ijaw National Congress (INC) and the Rivers State Elders and Leaders Forum – have criticized and rejected the alleged plots to use the Rivers State House of Assembly to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Both groups reacted separately on Wednesday where they told the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to leave Governor Fubara alone to concentrate on leading Rivers State to prosperity.
They also asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call the former governor to order.
The President of INC, Professor Benjamin Okaba, who spokes in the wake of a stalemate after Governor Fubara was denied access to the Rivers State House of Assembly complex to present the 2025 budget to the lawmakers who are loyal to Wike, called for an urgent intervention from the Federal Government to avert another crisis.
Governor Fubara hails from the Ijaw ethnic group.
Professor Okaba said: “President Tinubu has the choice of choosing between Wike and Ijaw Nation. Let him be encouraging him (Wike) to mess up himself in public.
“Let him encourage him to be insulting people. But should this happen, they should not hold the leadership of Ijaw nation responsible. So far he wants as many structures as possible to fall and die with him, we shall help him.
“He is frustrated and becoming so desperate because the political economy of Rivers State is slipping off; he will not win. Wike will not win; the government is not about individuals. One person cannot be more powerful than an institution. That is the statement we are making.
“We have not seen any error or crime committed by the governor. And as a true son of Ijaw nation, the INC shall apply every legitimate effort to support and defend our own,” he said.
There are fears in many quarters that the crisis in Rivers State has the potential to obstruct the peace in the oil rich state, the Niger Delta and by extension, Nigeria as a whole.
Speaking in the same tone, a member of the Rivers State Elders and Leaders Forum, Anabs Sara-Igbehas, said lawmakers of the Rivers Assembly denying Fubara access to present the state budget to them was condemnable.
Sara-Igbe, who is the pioneer spokesperson for the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), accused the lawmakers of provoking and insulting Rivers people.
Sara-Igbe, who is the National Chairman of South-South Elders Forum, said the lawmakers insulted the people of Rivers State and the governor by denying him access to the Assembly complex.
He said, “The governor was elected by millions of Rivers people. As the chief executive officer of the state, he has unhindered access to all the facilities within the state. Blocking him from entering the complex is a direct insult and embarrassment to the people of Rivers state.
“It is now very clear that the governor is ready for peace. But these people are not ready for peace.
Sara-Igbe said the governor is a peaceful person, adding that it was for that reason he heeded the advice of President Tinubu and withdrew the case he had against the lawmakers last year even when they refused to withdraw theirs.
Referring to Wike’s call for Fubara’s impeachment during a media chat on Wednesday morning , Sara-Igbe said “heaven will not fall”, adding that insulting the Ijaw people will not help the former governor and the current political situation in the state.
“He should remember that during the time of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, the production rate of crude dropped drastically from 2.4million barrels per day to a paltry 700,000bpd until the elders of the Ijaw nation and the Niger Delta pleaded with the various militant groups including the Avengers, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), among others to stay action.
“The nation’s economy today is at a sad point. We don’t want anything to happen to the crude oil production. The minister should be mindful of his utterances. While we plead for all parties in the crisis to follow the path of peace, we all should also mind what we say each time,” he said.
Wike had also dismissed the group, saying it is not a major ethnic entity in the Niger Delta region.
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that within a week, it would be the second time groups from Ijaw would react and defend Fubara and threatened reprisal should the governor of the state as the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) also warned that they will resist any forceful attempt to remove Fubara from office.
The group told those threatening to remove Fubara that the youths of Ijaw nation will be left with no other options than to shut down all the flow stations in the Niger Delta.
President of IYC, Theophilus Alaye, in a statement last week, said those threatening impeachment against Fubara should be careful because any forceful attempt to remove him from office will be resisted.
He also said it was the fierce quest of the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) to take over opposition controlled states that led to the military take-over in 1983.
Alaye asked Tinubu not to create situations that would destroy the current democratic experience.
