*Insists recent LG polls were charade
By Muhammad Danlami
The Chairman of the Rivers State All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Tony Okocha has accused Governor Siminalaye Fubara of plotting to rope in leaders of the opposition parties in the state under the guise of the Judiciary Panel of Inquiry he has set up to look into recent attacks on some Local Government headquarters in Rivers state.
Chief Okocha spoke at an engagement with newsmen in Abuja today (Thursday) alleging that Fubara wants to use the panel to witch hunt the opposition parties in the state.
Recall that following the controversial Local Government elections held recently in Rivers state, protesters had laid siege on some of the LGA secretariats, and set them ablaze.
Reports followed that one person was killed at Khana LGA, three at Oyibo LGA, while one was reportedly killed at Ahoada-East LGA during the violence.
Consequently, Governor Fubara set up the panel of inquiry to get to the roots of the arson to find the masterminds and bring them to justice.
In a reaction, Chief Okocha dismissed the panel as a decoy to clamp down on opposition figures.
While fingering Fubara of instigating the bombing of the APC Secretariat in Rivers, Okocha called on the Governor to also set up a panel of inquiry to investigate the attack on the APC Secretariat.
“We demand that the governor should include all cases of arson in Rivers since he assumed office including the bombing of the state assembly for which he knows the masterminds.
“He should also probe into the burning of the APC Secretariat in Rivers state,” he said.
He said he would not participate in the judicial panel of inquiry set up by Fubara, until it is inclusive.
Okocha charged Fubara to look inward for the cause of the protracted violence and discord confronting his administration, rather than targeting opposition elements in the state.
He said he learnt that Fubara’s problems were rather internal, and that the governor alluded to that when he owned up by saying the lawmakers wanted to use the assembly to impeach him, necessitating the demolition of the parliament structure.
Okocha said he has already briefed the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja on the bombing of the Rivers secretariat by thugs.
He said for nearly one and a half years since the administration of Fubara, the state has not known peace.
He alleged that at the center of the crisis is the governor who swore to maintain and keep the integrity and peace of the state.
“He is the Chief law breaker in the state,” Okocha claims.
“We expected that Fubara would consolidate on the gains of the previous administration but that is not what we are seeing at the moment,” he said.
He said two days to the disputed LGA elections which he described as a “charade”, there was a judgment against the election, on grounds that APC and other opposition parties were excluded at the planning stage.
“The court agreed with us that a minimum of 90 days notice must be given to all parties before the conduct of LG polls,” he said.
The court held that the police, INEC and others should not participate in the election, he said, and that election materials must not be released and the police must not participate in the election.
“The only option left to them was an appeal instead of proceeding to conduct the election,” Okocha said.
According to him, the governor boasted that he will proceed without the police, soldiers and others, which he actually did.
He added that until the court ruling which stopped the conduct of the LGA polls is set aside, the polls conducted by Fubara remains a nullity, and that the governor knows that.
He said it was Wike who made it possible for Fubara to emerge as Governor, after preparing him for governance by placing him strategically in positions.
He accused Fubara also of running state funds without Appropriation, and that over one year after taking over, there is no meaningful delivery of good governance and democracy dividends in Rivers State.
Asked when Wike will officially defect to the APC, he said Wike has always said he will not leave the PDP.
He said the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is an ideology and not a political party, and that the agenda includes members of the opposition, with Wike’s party, the PDP inclusive.
He said Wike’s political structure in Rivers State cannot be dismantled by 10 Fubaras.
