• Urges Wike, Fubara to reconcile within emergency period
• Development dangerous, unfair, says Ogbeh
A former governor of Oyo State, Rashidi Ladoja, yesterday, said the recently declared state of emergency in Rivers State is not a threat to democracy.
Ladoja stated this while addressing journalists at his residence, Ondo Street, Bodija, Ibadan. The former governor insisted that President Bola Tinubu had his reasons for making the decision. He said that the state of emergency is not in any way a threat to democracy, contrary to what many people have been saying.
Ladoja maintained that it is time the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike and the suspended governor, Siminalayi Fubara, sat together and charted a way forward. He urged them to settle all their differences.
The Otun Olubadan of Ibadanland said, “The state of emergency in Rivers State is not a threat to democracy at all. The President has his reason for doing it. It is not a threat to democracy. It is a warning to other governors to sit tight.
“Now, there is relative peace in Rivers State. I believe everything will be stabilised in the next six months. It is now time for Wike and Fubara to sit down and talk; after all, what are we fighting for? They should sit down and talk.
“They should use this period of emergency to settle their differences in the interest of the state. They should say, what are we fighting for? Why are we fighting?”
Meanwhile, a former Agriculture Minister, Audu Ogbeh, has warned that bringing a former service chief to replace an elected governor is sending a wrong signal that Nigerians still desire military rule.
Ogbe said this in an interview on ‘Politics Today’, a Channels Television programme, yesterday.
According to him, it is unfair for the President to suspend Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and retain the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, when they are both actors in the political crisis.
Ogbe, an ex-National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the emergency rule should be avoided at all costs, stressing that it is dangerous and would not be fair.
The former Agriculture minister said the decision of the president should not overrule that of the people who voted for the governor. He said that there would have been a reconciliation committee to address and iron matters out.
