Fubara architect of Rivers crisis, APC replies PDP

The All Progressives Congress has labelled Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, as the architect of the political unrest plaguing the oil-rich state.

The ruling party also faulted Wednesday’s allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party that the APC was planning to hijack the control of Rivers, describing the allegation as a figment of its imagination.

The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, revealed this in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday titled ‘Plot to forcefully take over Rivers State exists only in PDP’s warped imagination.’

The political fireworks between the two parties was ignited following the call by Rivers APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, Tony Okocha, for the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the state, citing the presence of a full-blown war.

In reaction, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said that Okocha’s statement exposes APC’s intention to provoke a crisis in Rivers State.

While stating that the alleged plot has failed, Ologunagba emphasised that the state will remain a stronghold of the PDP.

But Morka blamed the political crisis on Fubara.

The ruling party claimed that since he assumed office over a year ago, the governor has displayed reckless disdain for the rule of law and democratic institutions, adding that he conducted his government in flagrant violation of the Constitution.

The APC publicist recalled how Fubara constituted a three-man Assembly after declaring Rivers state House of Assembly to be non-existent in what it called an unprecedented display of autocratic arrogance,

He said, “This ridiculous and baseless claim was the subject of the party’s garbled press statement of Wednesday. The PDP offered no justification for its bogus claim except to mischievously misrepresent and amplify the comments reportedly made by Chief Tony Okocha while sweeping under the carpet the salient issues underpinning the festering crisis in Rivers State.

“Quite contrary to the PDP’s misplaced quibbles against Okocha comments, Governor Siminalayi Fubara is the supreme architect of the horrific crisis rocking Rivers state. The governor has continued to expend public funds without lawful appropriations by a duly constituted legislature thereby undermining the will of the good people of Rivers State and their right to effective and accountable democratic governance.

“Governor Fubara is an executive governor of crisis. A serious and focused governor would have set a clear programme to conduct local government elections given the established timeline for the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent elected local government officials. Rather, he sat idly for their tenure to elapse to unleash a fresh round of thuggery on the people, seeking to arbitrarily impose illegal, unconstitutional and anti-democratic caretaker committees to run the affairs of local governments in place of democratically elected local government officials.

He added, “The current crisis in Rivers state is contrived and executed by Fubara who has continued to usurp the legislative power of the Rivers state legislature while contemptuously disregarding valid decisions and orders of courts of competent jurisdiction in critical matters at the root of the crisis in the state.

“The PDP would rather peddle falsehood about a non-existent plot to interfere with the government of Rivers state instead of giving a crash course to Governor Fubara on the basic tenets of democratic and constitutional governance for the benefit of the good people of Rivers State.”