Group Posing As Rivers Elders Ambush Peace Process

Group Posing As Rivers Elders Ambush Peace Process

● Rush to court to stall budget transmission

By PHC Telegraph

A group of elders who may not believe in the peaceful resolution of the Rivers crisis have gone to court to procure an exparte motion seeking to  stop the Rivers governor from re-presenting the 2024 State budget to the House of Assembly.

News of their decision to halt Fubara and portray the govenor as someone who cannot be trusted broke on Thursday morning.

Radio stations carried reports suggesting that elders who are showcasing themselves as people fighting for the State Governor had gone to court asking it to block the implementation of the last requirement of the peace process – the representation of the budget.

We have also heard that this group of elders who include one Victor Jumbo is querying the legitimacy of members of Parliament.

Why this group of elders who played no role in the emergence of Fubara as governor want to derail the peace process which has helped to lower tensions in Rivers State remains yet unknown.

But a well placed source hinted, “There are last moment efforts by certain people to scuttle the process. They have been opposed to peace all along. Their recourse to court suggests that their level of desperation has increased.”

“In all this”, another source who also spoke under conditions of anonymity said, “I don’t think they are concerned about Fubara’s own interest at all.

“There has been no pronouncement by the Supreme Court even though the matter came up on Monday.

“On the other hand, there is a peace deal that he signed. How can they turn around now to say there are clauses that he (Fubara) shouldn’t implement? How do they want people to see the Governor?”

In some circles, people argue there is no way the elders who went to court could have done so without his (Fubara’s) knowledge.

But a top associate of the Governor who spoke to our Correspondent (name withheld) denied Fubara has any knowledge of the case, “What would it benefit the Governor to use this people to distort the peace process?

“Fubara has said repeatedly that he is committed to the peace. He has worked so hard for it, and said no price is too big to pay to have peace.

“It is doubtful in my view that he will go behind and connive with these elders, whoever they are, to derail the peace process.”

“On the record, let me say that it is difficult to say Fubara does not know a thing about this latest afront to the peace process”, a pro – Wike sympathiser remarked, “A man who has stabbed someone who strived so hard to help him in the back can do anything.”

Incidentally, most of the elders that are urging Governor Siminalayi Fubara not to go ahead with the total implementation of the  eight-point peace plan are the very ones who have all along supported Tonye Cole of the APC.

The Telegraph has learnt through impeccable sources that there is a clandestine plan by these elders who seek political relevance to encourage Governor Fubara to make costly mistakes.

“The plan”, according to an insider, “is to arouse a feeling of disaffection against Gov. Fubara, especially among those people who actually carried him on their backs, in such a manner that their angry reaction will pave the way for Fubara to fail.

“The decision by the Supreme Court on Monday to reserve judgment in the Fubara – Cole matter sent shockwaves”, said a lawyer, “For me, it was an unmistakable message that Fubara should not gloss over.

“Fubara is holding destiny in his own hands. How he plays his cards, how he approaches issues of state, how he analyses the situation before him will determine his future and the future of Rivers State.”

“I hope that he will have the wisdom to wade through a maze of conflicting issues and take positive steps to understand where all this will lead”, the lawyer who claims he has no political affiliations added.

“Hiding behind what I see as an ‘indolent court order’ to refuse to transmit the budget to the Rivers House of Assembly may have serious repercussions.

“There is no way Fubara can run without the Legislature. He will be running to hell”, a Rivers politician told this publication.

Tony Okocha, Caretaker Chairman of the APC had earlier noted in a press interview that Sim Fubara may not need to re-present the State budget.

He said all the State Governor should do is to transmit the said budget to the State House of Assembly for its consideration and final ratification.