Traditional rulers speak on calls for state of emergency in Rivers

Traditional rulers in Rivers State have urged President Bola Tinubu to disregard calls for the declaration of a state of emergency in the state.

This was contained in a communique issued at the end of the meeting of the Forum of Chairpersons Local Government Area Council of Traditional Rulers in the state held on Monday in Port Harcourt.

The communique was endorsed by all the 23 local government chairpersons of the forum except that of Emohua Local Government Area, Sergeant Awuse, who was recently removed as chairperson of Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers by Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

Governor Fubara, after removing Mr Awuse last month, announced Chike Worlu-Wodo, a traditional from Obio/Akpor, another Ikwerre-speaking local government area of the state, as his replacement.

The political crisis rocking the oil-rich Rivers State last month turned violent following the refusal of former elected local council chairpersons in the state to vacate office after the expiration of their three-year tenure.

The former council chairpersons are loyal to former Governor Nyesom Wike, the current minister of FCT, who is at loggerheads with his successor, Mr Fubara.

Violence broke out, resulting in the death of two persons, including a police officer, after suspected supporters of Mr Fubara stormed various council secretariats in the state and demanded that the former officials vacate office.

The police, to prevent further breakdown of law and order, ordered their operatives to take over the 23 council secretariats in the state, pending when the Court of Appeal will deliver judgment on an appeal by pro-Wike lawmakers.

In the wake of the violence, Tony Okocha, the chairperson of the All Progressives Congress caretaker committee in the state, called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the state, claiming that there is a full-blown war, Punch newspaper reported.

“Rivers State is at war. And the dramatis personae who are responsible for the mayhem that has claimed lives are known,” Mr Okocha said at a press briefing in Port Harcourt on 19 June, hours after Mr Fubara inaugurated caretaker committees for the 23 councils in the state.

“The governor is helpless. The APC in Rivers State is calling for a state of emergency in Rivers State as a way of taming the mayhem and the upsurge that is going on in the state.

“I call on the federal government to act fast in this regard,” Mr Okocha, an ally of the FCT minister, said.

Ignore calls for state of emergency

The traditional rulers in the state at a press briefing, the first after the assumption of office of the forum’s new chairpersons, said the call for a declaration of a state of emergency in the state by “disgruntled elements” was unjustifiable. They, therefore, urged President Tinubu to ignore such calls.

“Council calls on President Tinubu to ignore the call for a declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State as such a call cannot be justified in a state that is peaceful and has continued to host several international seminars, symposia and workshops with a record of peaceful nightlife.

“(Council) condemns in strong terms, the instigation of violence in our different communities and kingdoms by some overzealous politicians, as a way of preparing the ground for anarchy, bloodbath and complete breakdown of law and order as a precursor to the call for a state of Emergency,” the communique states in parts.

The traditional rulers called on the police authorities in the country not to be bias in the “politically instigated crisis” in the state but to deal with it professionally. The traditional rulers added that they are cries that the police in the state have taken sides in the issues.

The traditional rulers urged Governor Fubara to remain steadfast in his delivery of good governance to the people of the state and not be detracted by the “attempts from certain individuals and groups to derail his vision for the state”.

(PREMIUM TIMES)