•Says governor should stoop to conquer
By Jude Opara, Abuja
As the political crisis in Rivers state continues, the Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Chief Tony Okocha says the reported efforts by some elders of the state to resolve the conflict is dead on arrival because the matter is now pending at the court.
Okocha who spoke to newsmen in Abuja on Friday said there is no way the elders who according to him were also the ones that encouraged Governor Sim Fubara to refuse implementation of the peace accord brokered by President Bola Tinubu will now be talking of mediation.
He said there are only two ways for the issue to be resolved which are that the position of the law must respected by all or that the governor should come down from his high horse and stoop to conquer.
The APC chairman added that it was surprising when the governor renaged on the agreement despite addressing the state to state that all the points were the pathway to a lasting peace.
According to Okocha, the APC will only adhere to whatever the supreme court will rule on the contentious issue of the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers said to have earlier defected to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“And that agreement, when you say on Aburi we stand, you know that there is a particular segment and section of the country that said on Aburi we stand, It is similar because on Aburi we stood before Mr. President, and we left, we came to Rivers State, the arguments raged.
“Some people called themselves elders of the state and said to the governor, what are you doing? ‘Have you forgotten that you were elected and that you have immunity? Have you forgotten that, have you, have you forgotten that by your powers this is unnecessary’?
“The governor came and said it is not a death sentence. How it became a death sentence on this late hour is a different thing, it’s something that he, he had said is not a death sentence. And he signed to it.
“I signed, seven of us or eight did, I came to that meeting representing the APC. The governor signed, Deputy governor signed, the chairman of PDP signed, the speaker of the parliament signed. The minister was ordered to sign, NSA was ordered to sign by Mr. President.
“So when I speak on this matter, I speak from the point of view of a participant not as an observer, not as a third party, I was there in the meeting from beginning to the end”.
According to him, the best thing for every stakeholder to do now is to await the position of the apex court of the land.
“I say it’s foolishness for anyone to cry when they hear this call. And there is also this aphorism, that you don’t cry over a spilled milk.
“Where have these elders been? Where? The matter is narrowing down, if you ask me; because the only other hurdle to escape is the Supreme Court.
“What are the elders coming to do at this late hour, if they actually would want to come? What are they coming to do? They are the same people who told the governor, that you are a know-all and do-all. They encouraged the governor to believe that his head was bigger than his pillow.
“They were the ones, they told him, look, your powers are elastic, what can you not do?
“Now a lot of them have disappeared into thin air at the time they came to counsel the governor against the decision that he signed to, they had lined their pockets. And the governor is on the hot seat, So to say to you that I don’t see that working, it’s way too late.
“But I wish there is peace . We want peace, simple thing, the only way to bring peace is to follow the law.
“If the governor had listened to the Omotoso’s judgment, if he had listened to the counsel of Mr. President, if he had listened to the Supreme Court, I mean the Court of Appeal recently, all of this would have disappeared”.
Okocha further wondered why the governor is running the state without a budget; even as he alleged that the number of members of the State Assembly made up of only four members is unconstitutional.
“What is he hiding? I keep imagining. What is he hiding? That you want only four persons to approve for you? Four persons that will never, ever constitute a quorum”?
