Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers state has come out to clear the air that he is not fighting anyone but is just fighting to defend the interest of the state.
He said the bomb that was discovered in the Hotel presidential in Port Harcourt owned by the state was a deliberate act to declare a state of emergency by many evil plotters.
This assertion was made when the Governor was going on a courtesy visit, a declaration of the Senate Committee on privatisation and commercialisation which was led by its Chairman, Senator Orji Kalu.
The Governor ascertained that some youths were hired to start a protest for the extension of tenureship for the former local government chairmen.
He further said that the protesters and their sponsors were aware that the members of the National assembly were guests at the hotel president which was the reason they tried to bomb the Hotel, but they failed.
He said, “As a matter of fact, let me tell you, I know of everything that is happening. Yesterday (Tuesday), they (protesters) were aware that you are in the state. So, there was an attempt to create a serious problem.
“In fact, there was a plan to detonate dynamite at the Hotel Presidential because you people were there. But this God that we serve, it happened that the man who was trying to do it detonated it but just few seconds after, it blew his hands off.
“The idea was that as you were hearing state of emergency, it will be so that by the time they finish, when you return to have your sitting tomorrow (Thursday), the debate will be from somebody from this state who called you people to tell you not to come.
“He will now raise the issue of state of emergency, and say after all, distinguished colleagues saw it happen while you were in Rivers State, that you saw what happened.
“But you see, when you are with God, even your own child who is planning evil, will go and tell somebody that, God is with this man because he is clean, this is what my father is planning. That is what is keeping us in this state.”
The governor is also bewildered, how the law has refused to take its courses on the evil perpetrators. He presumed that some people are manipulating things because he has not seen anywhere in the country where they had been tenure elongation.
He said, “Where on earth can the tenure of local government chairmen be elongated? You were a former governor; was it tried during your time? Even those of you who are Senators here, even in your own states, have anyone tried this before?
“Is it that the Constitution that governs Nigeria is different from the one that operates in Rivers State? These are the very pertinent questions we should ask.
“Why should it be that when it comes to the case of Rivers State, the law is always silent? Is it that there is somebody bigger than Nigeria? That is the question I want you to go back with.”
Governor Fubara insisted, “I tell you, we know everything that is happening, and you know it, everybody knows it. We should be bold enough to look at the faces of people and tell them the truth.
“I am not fighting anybody. If I am fighting, people will know that I am fighting: My pattern will change. What we are doing is to defend ourselves. We can’t just fold our hands. Only a tree will be standing, and somebody will come and cut it off.
“It doesn’t happen as a human being. If you know that danger is coming, you shift. What we are doing is just to protect ourselves. So, Distinguished Senators, I am not fighting anybody.”
Fubara said, “Somebody thinks or some people feel they have their own life. I don’t own life. The person who owns life is God. What we are doing here is to serve the people of Rivers State because God has given us this opportunity.
“It doesn’t matter the channel the opportunity came from. But the most important thing is God, and nobody takes the place of God in anything.”
The Governor of Rivers state told his committee members to put the interest of the state first, if they must begin privatisation and commercialisation of public companies.
“I will also appeal to you that in this process of privatisation, anything that has to do with our own State here that needs to be privatised, the Rivers State Government will be interested.
“Because you can’t come here and own our property when we have the resources to have shares or to acquire some portion of it.
“So, as a committee, if there is anywhere you can support us; if they is anyone that is still available, let us know, and let us get the details so that we can own it.
“It is only when we own it that those assets can be protected. It is only when we own it, that is when those assets become viable to the State, and also become viable to the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he noted.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Woke was asked by the Senate committee chairman to sheath his sword and tell his supporters to redraw in order to promote peace in the state.
He said, “I want to admire Your Excellency, your Deputy and your team for the good things you are doing in the state, but it is good to have peace.
“I want to thank you because you look like a very peaceful man. Your face shows a peaceful man. Your laugh shows a peaceful man. So, I want you to continue in that manner of peace. There is nothing like peace. Let people who are eating with this problem stop eating from it.
“We know that politics has taken its shape. We commend you for what you are doing for the people of your state. I will continue to ask you to focus on the job.
“Leadership is a very big burden. It is not a sweet potato. It is not anywhere where you can see rice and beans. On the street of Rivers, everyone is saying that the governor and the former governor are quarreling.
“We want to plead with you, continue to be holding your people back because if your people demonstrate like the other people, we will have a state of anarchy, and it is not good to have anarchy.
“I want to plead with you to abide by the rules of the land. I plead with you to abide by what the Constitution says. I plead with you to also abide by the decisions of the Judiciary. Wait for every judicial interpretation and act on judicial interpretation.”
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