Elder statesman and National Leader of the South-South and Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Chief Edwin K. Clark, has warned Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT not to push for the impeachment of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
This is coming after 24 members of the State House of Assembly in the State on Monday served impeachment notice on the governor.
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The members had converged in a makeshift hall to serve the impeachment notice after the Assembly Complex was burnt on Sunday night.
Before the impeachment notice could be served on the governor, the 24 House members loyal to Wike had impeached the House Majority Leader, Edison Ehie, said to be loyal to the governor.
But a faction of eight members loyal to the governor quickly installed Ehie, whose first task was to suspend the Chief Judge of the State, Simeon Amadi.
Amadi is also alleged to be loyal to Wike.
But in a strongly worded statement he personally signed on Monday, Clark berated Wike for orchestrating the governor’s impeachment bid.
“I have been greatly disturbed by the reported developments in Rivers State in the last 24 hours. I have been reliably informed that there is a plot to unlawfully remove the Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency, Siminalayi Fubara, who has spent only about 5 months in office,” the statement read in part.
Clark further said, “I understand the sad episode is being orchestrated by the immediate past Governor of Rivers State and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Nyesom Wike.
“And that the intention is to remove the Governor, force his deputy, Professor Ngozi Odu to resign, and install the Speaker of the House of Assembly, another Ikwerre person as the governor of the State.
Let me warn strongly, we won’t allow that to happen!
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“President Bola Tinubu must call Nyesom Wike and the security agencies in Rivers State to order, to avert any untold crisis in Rivers State.
“Last night, the hallowed chamber of the Rivers State House of Assembly was burnt, in what apparently is part of the plot to destabilise the State.
“The Governor was tear-gassed and was even threatened with being shot at when he visited the Assembly Complex after the incident, to assess the level of damage.
“We are not in a barbaric state where people can do whatever they like; we are in a democracy and the tenets of constitutional democracy must be upheld by all.
“Rivers people have suffered enough political crises, the state should not be allowed to degenerate again into its dark past, and the Niger Delta Region by extension.
“The consequences would be dire for the stability of the region and the National Economy.
What has Governor Fubara done wrong? Refusing to be further ‘remote controlled’?
“Nyesom Wike was Governor for 8 years, nobody hassled him. He governed Rivers State like an Emperor, he did not show any iota of respect and regard to anyone, not even those who imposed him on Rivers people in 2015.
“President Tinubu must act fast and avert the unfolding crisis in Rivers State in the interest of his administration, the nation’s democracy, and the Country at large,” Clark said.
Clark warned that “a word is enough for the wise.”