Perturbed by the lingering political crisis in Rivers State, Abia North Senator Orji Kalu has urged Rivers Gov. Siminalayi Fubara and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike, to put aside their differences and end their feud.
Not doing so, Kalu warned, could cause state chaos and anarchy.
The former Abia governor made the strong appeal while leading the Senate Committee on Privatization and Commercialization to visit the governor at the Government House, Port Harcourt.
Since taking office, the governor has been embroiled in a political dispute with Wike, his predecessor and estranged political mentor, according to Persecondnews.
In October 2023, Fubara narrowly escaped an attempt by members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who were aligned with Wike to impeach him.
President Bola Tinubu brokered peace by inviting both parties to the Presidential Villa.
Hostilities between the governor, his predecessor, and their supporters continue to fester.
In May 2024, the governor, during the inauguration of Egbeda internal roads in the state’s Emohua Local Government Area, said it took him eight months after his inauguration to fully take the reins of power in Rivers State.
He said: “I know why I said four months. We started full governance in February 2024. That was when we started taking decisions—when we started confronting governance. And I am proud to say that our people are happy with what we have done.”
The state’s crisis reached a boiling point on June 18, when a deadly confrontation in Omuma Local Government Area claimed the lives of a policeman and a vigilante, coinciding with the forceful occupation of local government secretariats by youths across the state.
As a result, the Rivers State Police Command took control of all 23 local government council secretariats and certain key government facilities across the state, restoring order and maintaining security in the area.
Kalu pledged to collaborate with his fellow senators to appeal to Tinubu once again to intervene in the political unrest that has gripped the state and find a solution to the ongoing crisis.
The senator said: “We should not derail democracy; we should support democracy because democracy needs to be supported. If we don’t support democracy, democracy will collapse.
“So, I would like to plead with you and the former governor that you people should take the interests of your people foremost in your hearts.
“Continue to be holding your people, because if your people demonstrate like other people, we will have a state of anarchy, and it’s not good to have anarchy.
“You are a man of peace and there is peace all over you. I commend you for being calm and ensuring that there is peace in the state.
“Few of us here have access to President Bola Tinubu, and we are also going to plead with him seriously to see how we can shorten everything happening here.”
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