By Afolabi Samuel Odunayo
Dr Doyin Okupe, a former Director-General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, has suggested that the political feud in Rivers needs urgent political solution.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Lagos, the former presidential aide during the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan, acknowledged that there is jostle for power between the incumbent Governor of the state, Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
He said that the alleged feud is nothing other than a “total misfortune” when compared to the political calm the state deserves.
He stated that the tussle between the two political giants of the state has only brought division at the State House of Assembly.
Proffering what he believes is the solution to douse the fire currently bedevilling the state, Okupe reaffirmed that the Rivers political situation is “a total misfortune, and the real issue if we look at it properly, is that we do not obey our laws. if only we obey our laws, this situation cannot surface at all.”
He said:”The courts have to help, the judiciary must be consistent, fair and judge according to law, not any other sentiment.
“Let us all obey our laws and our rules and let the court adjudicate according to the law and anybody who flouts the law should pay for it.
“The way things are going in Rivers right now is dangerous, but a political solution is what I will suggest, as a very experienced politician.”
He further maintained that part of the political solution would be to reconcile the various interests of all conflicting factions.
“In all my years of politics, I have never seen anything in this world that a political solution cannot resolve in all political disagreements.
“Politics is about interest. What is the interest of A and what is the interest of B, and how can we marry them? That’s is all,” he said.
Recall that 25 lawmakers loyal to Wike defected from the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to the All Progressives Congress(APC), just two of the minister’s suporters left Fubara’s cabinet.
Following their defection to the APC, a State High Court in Port Harcourt had in May banned the lawmakers from posing as members of the state’s House of Assembly.
The ruling came after a lawsuit brought by two women lawmakers who supported Fubara and the factional Speaker, Victor Jumbo.
The court ruled that until the issue was resolved, all of the laws passed by Mr. Martin Awaewhule, the other factional Speaker, and the other twenty-four MPs who supported Wike would be void.
However, the order that dismissed 25 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for defecting to the APC was overturned by the Court of Appeal on Thursday in Abuja.
The appeal court determined that the Rivers State High Court, which issued the order, lacked the necessary jurisdiction to do so.
