Re: RIVERS PEACE PACT: “IF YOU DARE ME, I WILL SURPRISE YOU”.
When a butterfly thinks itself a bird, it ventures into an area that turns it to a mere prey to the real bird.
Same is the case when a snail boasts of being capable of crossing a road faster than a Tortoise, it somersaults dangerously.
~ African proverbs
Yesterday, the media space was inundated and awashed with the wailing voice of Governor Siminialayi Fubara, the Executive Governor of Rivers State, spewing innuendos against the person and office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, HE, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, unprovoked.
It was an occasion of a wrongly counseled “Thank You” visit to the Governor by the crowd purporting to be members of National Union of Local Government
Employees (NULGE).
In the account of the State chairman of NULGE, the visit was to thank the Governor for two cardinal reasons namely;
(1) For implementation of the 30% minimum wage.
(2) For the promotion of Local Government Workers.
He further seized the opportunity to request for mobility to aid the union in her operations.
Let me digress and ask a few punchy questions in passing:
(1) Does NULGE operate the early Greek style of Governance, where every
member of the Greek society gather at a particular arena, venue/spot, as in this case, to deliberate and debate and decide on issues, or does it operate a representative pattern where elected/appointed leadership stand in for the masses?
(2) If the latter is the case, was this mobilization of workers across the 23 local
government areas of rivers state and the attendant risk necessary?
(3) Is promotion of staff of any establishment, institute or company, a privilege or a right?
(4) How is it that the implementation of 30% approved minimum wage is a privilege, so much so that it warranted mass mobilization to government
house?
(5) Now that the largely condemned senseless ostentatious jamboree of thanksgivings have serrated the back and forth of the 23 local government areas, is it the plan of the NULGE, a union under the organized labour, to fire the first salvo in the Rivers State Government
induced/orchestrated rallies, to replace the former?
Which other labour union is next in the series?
GOVERNOR SIMINIALAYI’S OUTBURST
“I listened to the presentation of the state chairman of NULGE, on the occasion.
At no line, paragraph or page in the speech read by the State chairman of NULGE did he allude to Governor Fubara’s self-inflicted political imbroglio in Rivers State, talk more of the peace pact brokered by Mr. President.
“Surprisingly, Governor Fubara bottled up in deep seated anger, cashed in on the opportunity of the unrelated visit, to wag Mr. President of Nigeria and other victims, by saying, “…. let me say it here for record purposes; what is happening here in our State is somebody who has respect for an elder. Mr. President invited all the parties to Abuja and came out with a resolution that we should go and implement. That resolution, I am implementing it. It is not a constitutional
implementation but a political solution to a problem. I am doing it because of
respect for Mr. President. But let me say it here! Let me say it here!! If that action that I have to follow will be taken as weakness, I will surprise them. I want this
message to go to them. You know what I mean”.
Though it sounded infantilist and pedestrian, the Governor’s media aide embellished it better in a statement signed off with the theme:
“RIVERS PEACE
PACT: If you dare me, I will surprise you”.
The questions begging for answers are thusly:
(A) When did Governor Sim realize that the President’s Peace Pact was not a constitutional solution but merely a political solution which he may choose to
implement or not.
(B) Why was Governor Fubara not courageous enough to make the damning observation before Mr. President, who, after handing down the peace pact freely signed by Governor Fubara and his deputy, and other isolated key stakeholders that participated in the peace meeting at the behest of Mr. president, gave opportunity to Governor Fubara to speak first?
(C) Why does Governor Fubara continue to relish in petty chicanery and hoax?
(D) Was there a paragraph in the document offering options for “dos” or “don’ts”?
For clarity purposes, please see the reproduced 8 Point Peace Resolution document by Mr President below:
(See attached documents).
Distinguished Members of the Press, reading through the 8 Point Peace Resolution below, will it be true to say that indices 6 and 8, have been implemented, even when particularly ‘8’, as blatantly refused by Governor Fubara, has been badly affected by effusion of time, going by the extant laws of Rivers State, particularly the laws prescribing elections into the Local Government Councils? What about index ‘6’?
Does Governor Fubara run a budget duly re-presented to a legitimate Rivers State House of Assembly led by Rt. Hon. Martins Chike
Amaewhule?
Is the Governor denying or about to deny his signature on that document or as one of his ardent supporters who was present at the Peace meeting lied to Nigerians that the Governor signed the document under duress?
Doesn’t this unprovoked outburst further support our assertion that it is Governor Fubara who mobilized his cronies to institute suits in law courts challenging Mr. President to churn out the Peace Pact?
Is it not true that with Governor Sim’s outburst, Mr. President is limited to his avowal as sworn to, to protect and defend the entire territory of Nigeria, which includes Rivers State?
In other words, Rivers State in itself is a sovereign nation-state with Governor
Fubara as Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR).
Is it true to claim respect for one that you don’t obey?
FURTHER QUESTIONS BEFORE GOVERNOR FUBARA:
Who was Governor Fubara warning to surprise in such a crooked high-pitch
voice in public?
Who did he direct his visitors to pass the message to?
Why does a Governor feel sure to threaten fire and brimstone in a state he
swore to protect?
Why does he drum war when he should actually be the cynosure of Peace?
CONCLUSION:
We shall conclude by asserting as follows:
(1) That if Governor Fubara’s warning of springing up unpleasant surprise if dared, is to Mr. President, then it is the highest height of insult to Mr. President and his office.
(2) If the threat is to the Speaker and 26 other members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, who have been asserting their independence and making/promoting laws for prosperity of Rivers State, then he goofs again.
(3) If his threat is targeted at the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State, who has sustained its role as main opposition party in the state and unequivocal and vehement in speaking for the mass of our people including the downtrodden, the he misfired as usual. That threat is empty.
(4) If the threat is to his estranged benefactor, HE, E. N. Wike, the Honourable Minister of the FCT, then it will not be out of place to define him as an ingrate.
(5) The Governor should remember the aphorism, “Those whose carnels are cracked by the benevolent spirits, should endeavor to be humble.”
(6) We demand that All the issues contained in the Presidential proclamation as afore-cited, must be fully implemented by Governor Sim Fubara. He is not allowed to cherry pick.
(7) We demand that peace is priceless, terror is senseless. Hence, Mr.Governor should drown the monotonous sounds of war which he
personally drums up.
(8) We demand that Mr. Governor should perish the thoughts and plans for another brand and round of grandstanding in wasteful spending of taxpayers money to crowds.
(9) We demand that the Governor should show the minutest interest in Governance and eschew the braggadocio in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’.
Chief Tony C. Okocha KSC JP DSSRS
Chairman (CTC), APC Rivers State.
April 4, 2024.
