Okupe weights in on Rivers crisis, says it requires political solution

By Jude Opara

Aformer presidential spokesperson, Doyin Okupe, has described the leadership crisis in Rivers as a “total misfortune”, saying the problem requires a political solution.
Mr Okupe, a former director-general of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Campaign Council, said this in an interview with journalists on Sunday in Lagos.
“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 said.
Rivers has been enmeshed in a political crisis over a power tussle between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The rift has polarised the State House of Assembly with lawmakers loyal to both political gladiators electing different speakers to lead the House.
Lawmakers loyal to Mr Wike recently dumped the ruling PDP to join APC, while some commissioners loyal to the minister have quit Mr Fubara’s cabinet.
The Port Harcourt Division of the Rivers State High Court in May barred the lawmakers from parading themselves as assembly members after defection to APC. The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, however, on Thursday, vacated the order that sacked 25 assembly members who defected to APC.
However, Mr Okupe said the crisis in the state was caused by disregard for rules and laws.
According to him, while the judiciary can help to put things right, the best way to end the festering crisis is to proffer a political solution.
“That 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.
“The courts have to help, the judiciary must be consistent, fair and judge according to law not any other sentiment,” he said.
Emphasising the need for a political solution, Mr Okupe said politics is about interest and that the crisis would end if the interests of the disagreeing parties were discussed and reconciled.
He said, “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.”