- Urges Warring Combatants to Shield their Swords
By Abiola Olawale
A former Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, on Friday, called out to elders, stakeholders, and the powers that be in the country to immediately intervene in the political crisis bedeviling Rivers State.
This is as the PDP Chieftain and one time military governor of old Ondo State warned that if Rivers State is set on fire, it may become a national conflagration.
He also called out to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately wade into the latest threat by the Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), instructing the lawmakers of the state House of Assembly to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara. This is as he insisted that the state belongs to the PDP.
According to George, a retired Navy Commodore, impeaching Fubara in the manner that is being projected could escalate into truncating the democracy Nigeria has been enjoying since 1999. He advised that nobody should sit on the fence and pretend as if everything is okay.
While quoting Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution which states that: a member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if … (g) being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political Party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected”, George maintained that all the PDP lawmakers who defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, have automatically lost their seats “and they are in no position to threaten Governor Fubara. So, their plot to commence impeachment proceedings against the governor is already in vain.”
He said: “Rivers people belong to PDP. Those threatening to impeach the governor are being remote-controlled by some forces. This must stop because if Rivers is set on fire today, that may end this democracy.
“We should remember ‘Operation Wetie’ which started in the defunct Western Region and eventually consumed the nation and ended the First Republic in 1966.
“All the actors in this crisis in Rivers should avoid actions likely to cause a breach of peace and breakdown of law and order in our country.
“Members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of our party should be the elders in the room, act swiftly, and nip this crisis in the bud before it consumes everybody.
“All the gladiators should also think of the collective interests of Nigerians.
“Whether we are members of PDP, APC, or other parties, we should stop issuing provocative statements to increase the tension in Rivers.
“Any move that can truncate this democracy must be stopped immediately. Enough is enough”.
It would be recalled that the political crisis rocking Rivers State escalated on Tuesday following a directive by the Rivers State APC Caretaker Committee (CTC) chairman, Chief Tony Okocha, who at a press briefing in Port Harcourt, the state capital instructed the State House of Assembly, led by Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule, to immediately commence impeachment proceedings against Fubara.
Okocha, speaking during the press briefing said it became imperative to impeach Fubara following the remarks he made that the intervention of President Bola Tinubu in the political crisis rocking the state was only a political solution and not constitutional.
Fubara had been at loggerheads with his predecessor, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
Despite the two parties signing an eight-point peace deal brokered by Tinubu in December 2023, things haven’t yet died down in the oil-rich state.
