Rivers elders kick against moves to impeach Fubara

Some elders in Rivers State have criticised the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, over his clandestine moves to remove Governor Siminalayi Fubara from office, saying the state will not accommodate anybody if he is removed from office.

The elders alleged that Wike was championing the move to oust the governor by any means.

Speaking to our Saturday on Friday, one of the elders, High Chief Sunnie Chukumele, said it was unfortunate that Wike and his co-conspirators had not been able to pinpoint anything the governor did to warrant his removal.

Chukumele, who is also the convener, Coalition of Rivers State Leaders of Thought, however, called on the governor to remain on the side of the people and get more people to his side, and ensure that the lawmakers loyal to the FCT minister are replaced in the state legislature.

He said, “What the Governor ought to do to make sure he remains in office is to continue to work on the side of the people of Rivers State.

“He should get in as many people as possible; to ensure that the position once held by the 25 or 27 former members of the House of Assembly, that INEC responds because INEC has failed; the Presidency has failed. The Presidency seems to be in cahoots with the Abuja men who want to remove the Governor of Rivers State by every means possible.

“What they are doing is a recipe for catastrophe. Anything that wants to remove the Ijaw son that is Governor of Rivers State, this state will not accommodate anybody.”

In is submission, former Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Chris Finebone, said Wike was responsible for the intrigues currently going on in the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Finebone described what the FCT Minister and his cronies are doing in the main opposition party in the country as ‘organised crime’.

He said, “The web of intrigue at the national level of the People’s Democratic Party carefully plotted by the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, and some party officials to ensnare his successor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has assumed the dimension of organised crime by the notorious Sicilian Mafia.”

“As a buildup to the present situation of affairs, Nyesom Wike quickly reconciled his personal disagreement with Samuel Anyanwu, the PDP National Secretary. As for the National Chairman, Umar Illiya Damagun, it is a notorious fact that he is at the beck and call of the FCT Minister, who has ensured he remains in office as acting National Chairman.

“With the acting National Chairman and National Secretary in his kitty, the FCT Minister completed his stranglehold on the PDP.”

To scale through the hurdle, Finebone said the governor needed to consolidate his budding political structure in the forth-coming local government elections by ensuring his loyalists occupy plum office across the 23 local government areas.