…Accuses pro-Wike protesters of attempts to bomb hotel in PH
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has said that he is not fighting anybody but, only defending the State against predators, and protecting supporters of the interest of Rivers State against those who feel that they own the life of others.
Fubara stressed that the failed attempt to detonate an explosive device at the Hotel Presidential, a five star hotel in Port Harcourt, was a deliberate ploy to strengthen the call for a state of emergency by haters who want to undermine the State to achieve their evil plans.
The Governor who stated these when he received in audience, a delegation of the Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, led by its Chairman, Senator Orji Uzo Kalu, to the Government House in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, explained that some youths were hired to engage in a protest to demand for the extension of tenure of former local government chairmen who have served out their statutory three-year tenure.
Fubara said the protesters and their sponsors were aware that some honourable members of the National Assembly were guests at the Hotel Presidential, which is why they attempted to detonate an explosive device near the facility in order to give reason to support the call for state of emergency when the matter is raised at plenary, adding however, that they failed.
He said; “As a matter of fact, let me tell you, I know of everything that is happening. Yesterday (Tuesday), they (protesters) were aware that you are in the State. So, there was an attempt to create serious problem.
“In fact, there was a plan to detonate dynamite at the Hotel Presidential because you people were there. But this God that we serve, it happened that the man who was trying to do it, detonated it but just few seconds after, it blew his hands off.
“The idea was that as you were hearing state of emergency, it will be so that by the time they finish, when you return to have your sitting tomorrow (Thursday), the debate will be from somebody from this State who called you people to tell you not to come.
“He will now raise issue of state of emergency, and say after all, distinguished colleagues saw it happen while you were in Rivers State, that you saw what happened. But, you see, when you are with God, even your own child who is planning evil, will go and tell somebody that, God is with this man because he is clean, this is what my father is planning. That is what is keeping us in this State,” he said.
Fubara wondered why it seems that the law is silent or inactive to take its course over offenders because somebody appears to be bigger than the law on the agitation, because there is nowhere in the country were tenure elongation for former local government chairmen has been an issue.
He noted that there is no Governor in Nigeria who can take 10 percent of the abuse railed at him by former local government council chairmen, adding that he has taken those insults and attacks in his strides without going hard at the purveyors because their plan is to distract him, stressing that he remained focused on delivering good governance and democratic dividends to Rivers people.
In the words of Fubara; “Where on earth can tenure of local government chairmen be elongated? You were a former Governor, was it tried in your time? Even those of you that are Senators here, even in your own states, has anyone tried this before? Is it that the Constitution that governs Nigeria is different from the one that operates in Rivers State?
“These are the very pertinent questions we should ask. Why should it be that when it comes to the case of Rivers State, the law is always silent? Is it that there is somebody bigger than Nigeria? That is the question I want you to go back with.
“I tell you, we know everything that is happening, and you know it, everybody knows it. We should be bold enough to look at the face of people and tell them the truth.
“I am not fighting anybody. If I am fighting, people will know that I am fighting: My pattern will change. What we are doing is to defend ourselves. We can’t just fold our hands. Only a tree will be standing and somebody will come and cut it off.
“It doesn’t happen as a human being. If you know that danger is coming, you shift. What we are doing is just to protect ourselves. So, Distinguished Senators, I am not fighting anybody.
“Somebody thinks or some people feel they own life. I don’t own life. The person who own life is God. What we are doing here is to serve the people of Rivers State because God has given us this opportunity.
“It doesn’t matter the channel the opportunity came from. But the most important thing is God, and nobody takes the place of God in anything,” Fubara stressed.
In his remarks, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Senator Orji Uzo Kalu, commended Governor Fubara for his love for peace, determination to offer quality governance and keep pace with providing the right climate to engender economic growth to all residents in the State.
Kalu, also called on the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to sheath the sword as well as call his supporters to order as a commitment to fostering peace and putting the interest of the State above all considerations.
