The ruling All Progressives Congress APC has claimed that Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State has resolved 90 percent of the crisis in the state.
This is as the party threw its support for the declaration.
The party also faulted partisans who had expected the suspension of the Federal Capital Territory FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, alongside the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and the State Assembly, saying the minister was never in the fray.
Chief Tony Okocha, chairman of the party’s caretaker committee in Rivers state, stated this on Thursday at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja after paying a thank-you visit to the Dr Abdullahi Ganduje-led National Working Committee NWC of the APC.
When asked if Fubara’s suspension or exit from government was the only antidote for the crisis, Okocha said, “For the immediate, it was necessary.
The decision of Mr President was a necessary evil. Whether the impeachment or suspension as it were today, I can tell you that 90 percent of the political crisis in Rivers was solved. It was very necessary. It is like when you have a hernia, and the only solution is for an operation. The hernia is painful and the operation is painful, but without the operation, you won’t have any peace.”
On the complaints by some persons that the FCT minister should also have been suspended, Okocha said, “Was he in the fray? The answer is no. If bringing him to the fray is because he is the leader of that political structure, then you may be right. The 32 assembly members were produced and sponsored by the former Governor of Rivers State, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, His Excellency Ezenwo Nyesom Wike CON.
“The election was one day, assembly and governorship. Are you not aware of what happened? The same group also threw up the governor of the state. So if you want to get him into the fray, that is the only reason you can, or you should.
“The other point we make is that, and I have said that here before, Fubara was the weakest political investment. I have said that many times. What happens to you when you have invested? Should you allow the investment to fly away or to explode? And in Politics, I am talking about even in Economics, in politics, it is heavy, if not impossible, for someone to allow you to dismantle his political structure.
They are all members of the same party. We have APC; they are members of a party called PDP. For those who are calling for his suspension and all that, they are not getting the point right. That man had been at the epicenter of peace. How do we resolve this matter? But the governor became so hydra-headed that his head became bigger than his pillow. He had some people who told him, you have the red pen; you know all and do all; you can make or unmake with your red pen. I am sure some of you saw him in the program where he brought the red pen out and said, ‘This is the red pen; it is still with me. This is what they are after.
I still have it. I don’t know whether the red pen has dried up now, or maybe it will dry up before six months, “ Okocha added.
