The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the ongoing blackmail against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and the Judiciary over the recent judgement stopping allocation to the state as mere sentiments which he said does not hold water.
The party also warned against attempt to blackmail the President, the FCT Minister and the Judiciary, saying such attemp will not save the governor.
Addressing a press conference Friday at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, the Chairman, caretaker committee of the APC in Rivers state, Sir Tony Okocha, said the law of the land does not recognise sentiments but facts as presented in the case.
Okocha specifically said Governor Sim Fubara “is Nyesom Wike’s investment”, adding that Wike practically lifted Fubara from political obscurity.
He said: “Wike brought Fubara to where he’s today. He lifted him from obscurity to political crescendo. Nobody is suffocating anybody. The fight in Rivers state is between Sim Fubara and Sim Fubara.
He said that the political crisis in Rivers would have ended since if governor Fubara had obeyed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s intervention.
According to Okocha, the Rivers state governor Sim Fubara has been running the state without approved budget which is against the law of the land but the those playing up unnecessary sentiments failed to see the illegality going on under the governor.
When asked for the way out, the APC caretaker chairman said the governor must obey the law of the land, including the law regarding budget of a state.
“Section 120, 121, 122 speak to this issue regarding budget clearly,” Okocha said.
The APC chieftain said: “As a political party, the All Progressives Congress, we stand with stand with and by the judgement of the court because it is what will holdsway in the civil society, it is the court, not one man morality.
“We also using this opportunity to speak against attempt to disparage innocent persons namely; Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister. In all the cases in court, there are about 32 cases he is not a party to any. While bring in the President?”
On the recent attempt by some stakeholders and elders in Niger Delta to reconcile the gladiators in Rivers crisis, Okocha said such move was too late.
Okocha said: “I say it’s foolishness for anyone to cry when the head is off. There is also this aphorism, that you don’t cry over a spilled milk.
“Where have these elders been? Where? The matter is narrowing down, if you ask me; because the only other hurdle to escape is the Supreme Court.
“What are the elders coming to do at this late hour, if they actually would want to come? What are they coming to do? They are the same people who told the governor, that you are a know-all and do-all, they encouraged the governor to believe that his head was bigger than his pillow.
“They were the ones, they told him, look, your powers are elastic, what can you not do? And the governor agreed to that and today, the Ikweri man tells you that not everybody that comes to plan your building will be part of the building.
“”No. A lot of them have disappeared into thin air at the time they came to counsel the governor against the decision that he signed to, they had lined their pockets. And the governor is on the hot seat. So to say to you that I don’t see that working is way, way too late.
“But I wish. We want peace, Simple thing. See, the only way to bring peace is to follow the law.”
