Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, expressed his commitment to ensuring peace, stating that no price is too big to pay for peace and development in the state.
However, stakeholders and elders have rejected a truce brokered between Fubara and his predecessor, Chief Nyesom Wike, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, less than 24 hours after it was signed.
The rejectors claim that the agreement infringes on the constitution and undermines the principle of separation of powers.
The terms of the agreement include dropping impeachment moves against Fubara, withdrawing all court matters filed by Fubara and his team, reinstating defected lawmakers and recognizing their leader as speaker, Fubara representing the 2024 budget to the Assembly, reinstating remunerations and benefits of lawmakers, allowing the House to choose its sitting location, re-submitting names of resigned commissioners to the House, and nullifying the dissolution of local government administrations.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Elder statesman Chief EK Clark, the Ijaw Nation, a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Human Rights Advocate and lawyer Festus Ogwuche, and the United States of America chapter of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) have dismissed the agreement as unacceptable.
Additionally, the PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC) insists that fresh elections must be conducted to fill the 25 vacant Assembly seats allegedly vacated by 25 of its lawmakers in the Assembly. The PDP maintains that there is no remedy for the 25 former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, emphasizing
