“I must
say that the governor himself is not ready to assert his rights and we don’t
even know why.”
Former Special Adviser to Ex-Rivers Governor
Nyesom Wike and civil rights advocate, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, has said,
concerning the political crisis in Rivers State, that there is no need for a
set precedent through a Supreme Court judgment if political settlements can
surpass legal requirements.
Inko-Tariah made this statement in an interview
with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, where he also said that the FCT Minister Wike and
Rivers State governor Siminalayi Fubara should not use Rivers State as the
‘ring’ for their fights, and they should leave governance out of the matter.
Inko Tariah said that despite Wike’s statements,
there is no peace in Rivers State as he said “the FCT Minister was just
mouthing pious relevance and sanctimonious triviality.”
The former adviser addressed the ongoing Rivers
House of Assembly rift by saying, “We are going to have a very serious
constitutional crisis. We must not allow sentiments becloud our reasoning. The
reasons they had used for the defection, they said, oh, 8-point agenda. Must
political settlement outdistance legal requirements and conditions? If that’s
the case, we don’t need Supreme Court judgments anymore. We just need to go to
the President and let him give a verdict on any issue. So, if he says you’re
guilty, you’re guilty. If he says you’re innocent, you’re innocent. We don’t
need the courts anymore.”
He went on to say, “As we speak, those persons
are not even members of the House of Assembly irrespective of the agreement
entered into, because that cannot supersede the provisions of the law, so
they’re not. Which means we don’t have a speaker, we have only four members.”
Speaking of the rift between Wike and Fubara, he
said, “I will not sit back and watch you murder your son because he’s your son,
and because your son says he’s my father, therefore you’re going to bring out
your gun and shoot that son to death, no I won’t let you do that, that’s number
one. Number two, if it’s between father and son, they should go to the bedroom
and fight and not use the state as the ring.
“The truth is we are not bothered about what goes
on between father and son, they so called themselves, described themselves.
There is no problem. But it’s affecting governance, that’s what we should
understand, and it’s also affecting us. Nothing is happening in Rivers State in
terms of Human Capital development, in terms of development to the
infrastructure.”
Speaking on the position of the residents of
Rivers State on this issue, he said, “A lot of us Rivers persons are saying
first of all we need to be on the side of the law. Sadly, I must say that the
governor himself is not ready to assert his rights and we don’t even know why.
And a lot of us are miffed, we are peeved, because it’s not about Fubara
himself, he just symbolizes the struggle, it’s all about the office of the
governor. It could have been any other person, he’s immaterial. So, when you
see Rivers people come out en masse, troop out to support the governor, it’s
not about Fubara, it’s a referendum against dictatorship.”
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