Former Rivers State Governor Rufus Ada-George claims ex-governors will intercede in the state’s oil-rich crisis.
Rivers has been mired in political turmoil for several months as a result of the disagreement between former Governor Nyesom Wike and his successor Sim Fubara.
While President Bola Tinubu had previously intervened, the political tension in Rivers State has now taken on a new level. However, Ada-George believes that former governors of the state can persuade the players to put down their swords.
“We are hopeful that with the experience we have and the knowledge of the persons involved, the former governors will be able to prevail on them and see reasons why the case must be handled and tackled soonest,” he said on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
According to him, when the crisis erupted in October, the former governors tried to reach out to the parties involved. While contact was made with Fubara, the elder statesman said they have not been able to speak with Wike who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“We made efforts and reached out to the governor [Siminalayi Fubara] but we have not been able to have personal contact with the minister of the FCT,” Ada-George said but maintained that stakeholders in the state are “still hopeful” that the crisis will be resolved soonest.
His comment came on the same day that four commissioners in the Fubara cabinet resigned, citing various reasons.
The Commissioner for Works George-Kelly Alabo – who served in the same capacity under Nyesom Wike’s government – and the Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Commissioner Inime Aguma and their Finance counterpart Isaac Kamalu were the latest to pull out. This was after Zacchaeus Adangor resigned as the Attorney-General (AG) and Commissioner for Justice.
Their resignation further compounds the political crisis in the state where lawmakers in the state assembly are now in two groups. While 27 of them had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Despite the defection, Governor Fubara – whose administration demolished the assembly player – presented the 2024 budget to four lawmakers at the Government House in Port Harcourt.