Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has said that the attempt to detonate an explosive device at the Hotel Presidential, a five-star hotel in Port Harcourt, was a deliberate act to strengthen the call for a state of emergency by haters who want to undermine the state to carry out their evil plans.
He clarified to the public that he was not fighting anybody, but was rather standing up for the state against evildoers, protecting supporters of those who have the state’s interest at heart against those who feel that they own the lives of others.
Governor Fubara made this disclosure when he received a delegation of the Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation on a courtesy visit, led by its Chairman, Senator Orji Uzo Kalu, to Government House in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
The governor, according to a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Nelson Chukwudi, explained that some youths were paid to engage in a protest to demand an extension of tenure for former local government chairmen who have served out their supposed three-year tenures
Governor Fubara said the protesters and their sponsors knew that some honorable members of the National Assembly were present at the Hotel Presidential, which is why they planned to plant an explosive device near the building to have a valid reason to support the call for a state of emergency when the matter is raised at plenary but they failed.
He said, “As a matter of fact, let me tell you, I know of everything that is happening. Yesterday (Tuesday), they (protesters) were aware that you are in the State. So, there was an attempt to create a serious problem.
“In fact, there was a plan to detonate dynamite at the Hotel Presidential because you people were there. But this God that we serve, it happened that the man who was trying to do it detonated it but just a few seconds after it blew his hands off.”
Governor Fubara asserted: “The idea was that as you were hearing the state of emergency, it will be so that by the time they finish when you return to have your sitting tomorrow (Thursday), the debate will be from somebody from this state who called you people to tell you not to come. He will now raise the issue of a state of emergency, and say, after all, distinguished colleagues saw it happen while you were in Rivers State, that you saw what happened.
“But you see, when you are with God, even your own child who is planning evil, will go and tell somebody that. God is with this man because he is clean; this is what my father is planning. That is what is keeping us in this state.”
The Rivers State governor wondered why it seems that the law is silent or inactive to handle these offenders because some people feel to be bigger than the law on the agitation because there is nowhere in the country where tenure is elongated for former local government chairmen.
The state chief executive, Governor Siminalayi Fubara pointed out that there is no governor in Nigeria who can accept 10 percent of the abuse mounted at him by former local government council chairmen.
Governor Fubara said he has taken those insults and attacks in his strides without going hard at the offender’s because their plan is to distract him, stressing that he has remained focused on delivering good governance and democratic dividends to the people of Rivers State.
He said, “Where on earth can the tenure of local government chairmen be elongated? You were a former governor, was it tried in your time? Even those of you who are senators here, even in your own states, have anyone tried this before?
“Is it that the constitution that governs Nigeria is different from the one that operates in Rivers State? These are the very pertinent questions we should ask.
“Why should it be that when it comes to the case of Rivers State, the law is always silent? Is it that there is somebody bigger than Nigeria? That is the question I want you to go back with.”
Governor Fubara emphasized: “I tell you, we know everything that is happening, and you know it, everybody knows it. We should be bold enough to look at the faces of people and tell them the truth.
“I am not fighting anybody. If I am fighting, people will know that I am fighting: My pattern will change. What we are doing is to defend ourselves. We can’t just fold our hands. Only a tree will be standing and somebody will come and cut it off.
“It doesn’t happen as a human being. If you know that danger is coming, you shift. What we are doing is just to protect ourselves. So, distinguished senators, I am not fighting anybody.”
Governor Fubara further said: “Somebody thinks or some people feel they own life. I don’t own life. The person who owns life is God. What we are doing here is to serve the people of Rivers State because God has given us this opportunity.”
Chairman, of the Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Senator Orji Uzo Kalu addressed the public their reason for being in Rivers State, they said they were in Rivers State to carry out some duties on some projects that were under their watch.
Senator Kalu, who is the member representing Abia North Senatorial District, applauded Governor Fubara for his love for peace, and his determination to offer quality governance and keep pace with providing the right climate to engender economic growth to everyone in the state.
The Senate committee chairman also urged the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to drop the sword, and call his supporters to order as a commitment to fostering peace and putting the interest of the state above all matters.
Meanwhile, G-60, a group of opposing lawmakers in the House of Representatives, on Wednesday raised the alarm over an alleged move by Pro-Wike former LG chairmen to freeze the Rivers State local government allocation using an ex parte order.
The lawmakers, who made this known in a statement signed by their spokesperson, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, said that they received credible information that the financiers of some of the former local government chairmen, who wanted tenure elongation, are seeking a Federal High Court to give them an injunction that will seize the allocation because of their failed attempt to hold on to power.
They therefore called on the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and judges of the state High Court to be very cautious and put their divisions on alert, so that they won’t be used to issue ex parte orders to people who are no longer elected local government chairmen.
The lawmakers said, “We received credible intelligence that some of the former local government chairmen their tenure expired in Rivers and their financiers are looking for a federal high court to give them an injunction that will seize the allocation of the local government because of their failed attempt to hang on to power after their tenure expired.
“I want to use this opportunity to call on the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and judges of the state High Court, you never can tell they can go to Zamfara or Ogoja or anywhere, I want to call on them to be very careful and put their divisions on alert, so they won’t be used to issue ex parte applications to people who are no longer elected local government chairmen.
“There’s nothing like tenure extension in a democratic setting, it’s like a coup taking over constitutional governance. So we want to alert the general public that there’s a move to pick ex parte applications by these former local government chairmen that their tenure has expired to seize the allocation of the local government so that workers and development in rural areas will suffer
