Rivers Local Elections: What Fubara said about Thursday’s protest in Port Harcourt

Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State said the people who protested in Rivers against Saturday’s local elections were hired from Akwa Ibom State and Obinze-Ngwa, a boundary town between Imo and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers held a joint protest against the local elections on Thursday morning at the PDP secretariat along Aba Road.

Both parties cited an Abuja Federal High Court order for boycotting the election.

But Mr Fubara, while addressing political stakeholders from Rivers on Thursday, said the protesters were hired. He emphasised that he would not allow anybody to destabilise the state.

Governor Fubara said his resolve to conduct the election has unsettled some people, whom he said have resorted to street protest to attract public sympathy.

“Our AI pattern of doing things has even made people turn to the chant of aluta. There was a time when they told the public that they couldn’t protest,” Mr Fubara said.

The governor’s remark is in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday by his spokesperson, Nelson Chukwudi.

“Look at some of them, they are now behaving like members of labour unions, protesting like students. They have turned to aluta professions. Going by the analysis that they posed then, we can say, there are signals that they have failed.

“So, if today, these same persons have resorted to aluta pattern, it means that we have also won. So, we need to be very careful and follow this course with tact,” he said.

‘Election will hold’

Speaking further, Mr Fubara told the gathering to return to their communities and prepare for the election, insisting that it would be held on Saturday.

Mr Fubara was elected on the PDP platform, but the party, controlled by his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, is boycotting the election.

Messrs Wike and Fubara are battling each other over the control of the political structure in the state.

Mr Fubara’s loyalists are contesting the election under the platform of the Action Peoples Party (APP).

At the meeting with political stakeholders, Mr Fubara said he was the greatest loser in the election because his party, the PDP, was not participating.

“But because of the Supreme Court ruling that there must be elected officials to manage the affairs of local governments, as a governor, I have to obey that.

“It did not end there. The President, after the Supreme Court ruling, invited us and we had an understanding that we have a compliance duration of 90 days. So, what we are doing here is to make sure that even if my party is not participating, the local council process must stand for Rivers State.

READ ALSO: Rivers PDP, APC in joint protest after Fubara vows local elections will hold

“And a good number of you here are my party faithful and you are not even benefiting from it, and you are here supporting us. So, what is the problem?

“So, let me conclude by assuring you again, don’t allow anybody, don’t allow any propaganda, don’t allow any aluta movement, and don’t allow any story from the pit of hell to deter your spirit at this point,” he said.