•Wike and Fubara
The political camp of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Chief Nyesom Wike, has disagreed with the comments of the suspended Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, that reconciliation has reached an advanced stage to restore democratic governance in the state.
Fubara had on Thursday while speaking in a meeting with leaders and stakeholders of the Simplified Movement said that the peace and reconciliation process required to restore all executive and legislative institutions and offices in the state was already underway, reports The Nation.
Fubara assured that democracy and good governance would soon return in the state, with both arms working together for the good of the people.
He thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his wisdom in the declaration of emergency rule and assured that he was at the verge of reconciling with Wike, whom he referred to as his oga.
He said: “I want to assure you that the issues will soon be resolved, and you will come back to your offices; not just at the Executive arm, but also Legislative arm.
“And I also believe that the strong relationships we had before will return, and we will begin to work together again, for the good and progress of the State. What is important is for us to have a forgiving spirit.”
“We are already in the peace process. I want you to thank Mr President for his timely intervention to salvage the situation, and stabilise the polity and the State. If not for Mr President, the story today would have been different.
“I don’t know how he gets his information, but the truth is that he acted with wisdom at the right time. He is the one you should thank. And let me also thank him personally for his intervention, and the personalities across the country, who moved in and appealed to him to intervene.
“There is no reason why there will not be peace between me and my Oga”, in reference to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and his predecessor, Chief Nyesom Wike, adding, “There will be peace. We are meeting. We will reconcile.”
Fubara said that he was indebted to the people for their sacrifices and opportunity to serve and promised to continue to show respect for the people of the State, who entrusted him with the mandate.
“One important thing in this life is respect. I want to earn the respect of the people, not force it on them. I’m with you completely”.
But Wike today during his media chat described the claims of Fubara as radio and television reconciliation suggesting that the suspended governor had not taken the required steps to show his willingness for peace.
A former Local Government Chairman of Emohua in Rivers State, Dr. Chidi Lloyd, said today that Fubara was not sincere with the reconciliation process.
Insisting that Fubara was playing the ostrich, Lloyd said: “We know him very well, having worked with him for some time. He is a man who says something and does a different thing. He tries to play the ostrich. That is what he does. But he forgets that it is only the head of the ostrich that is in the sand; the entire body is outside.
“He will tell others that he has settled with his oga, but the oga has not seen him in the past two months. That is not the kind of thing we need now. When a man wants to make peace, it will show. The Bible says to pursue peace with all men. It will show”.
Lloyd advised Fubara to go through the process of genuine reconciliation by meeting with members of the House of Assembly and other aggrieved stakeholders including former local government chairmen.
He said: “What kind of peace are you making? You have not met with the state Assembly, the major people that you have the issues with and the disagreement is protracted up to the Supreme Court and the court made a decision.
“I said to those who cared to listen after that judgement that in this scenario, Governor Fubara is a prisoner of war, and a prisoner of war does not dictate to his captors. It is left for him to stoop to conquer.
“He met the minister, and the minister said it was not about him; that it is about the structure. The minister is an astute politician, and he would not want to say that because they have come to see him, everything is alright.
“The problem was protracted, the assembly; the former council chairman, who he abruptly sacked from office after seizing their allocations for three months and then karma came and suspended him. That is why we must be very careful the things we do. So, he needs to meet with these people.
“The movies that we watch today, there are behind the scenes that you do not see. As a governor, go to these people, call the speaker and tell him, ‘Mr Speaker, I am sorry, let bygones be bygones. You know, I have never been a governor before. All of us are learning. It is a learning curve.
“The Speaker will, in turn, speak to the other members. These are people whose salaries you seize for two years. Some of them, their wives have left them; some couldn’t pay school fees for their children”.
When asked where the suspended governor derived his confidence that the emergency rule would soon be lifted, he said: “It depends on those, who are talking to him. He was the one that told us that he had spent a lot of money on this matter.
“There must be some people telling him that he would come back soon. They gave us the 29th of May date. It didn’t work; they said now it is June 12th. Let’s listen to June 12. But the Bible book of Amos, chapter 3, verse 3 says ‘can two work together except they agree?’
“Let’s even assume, though not concede that on June 12 they will bring him back, the problem will still be there, and that will bring us to what Ola Rotimi said in his play The Gods Are Not to Blame. He said Until the rotten tooth is pulled out, the mouth will continue to chew with caution”.
