The minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike has said Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers, is the “architect” of the violence rocking the state.
Wike, during an interview with Channels Television on Tuesday, ascribed the violence in Rivers to Fubara’s failure to obey the rule of law and court judgment.
He added that Fubara discarded the judgment of the federal high court in Abuja that prohibited the police and other security agencies from participating in the October 5 Rivers LGA elections.
“When I was governor, I always obeyed the rule of law. You heard the governor said, our state is turning to a state of anarchy where people did not obey the rule of law. What is obeying the rule of law?” Wike asked.
“You must respect and obey the judgment of the court. You must not take the law into your hands. It does not matter how you see that judgment.
“The moment you don’t obey court judgments, you are inviting anarchy and violence. Was that destruction done before now?
“A governor came out on national television to tell the world that I will not obey court judgment.
In fact, he said there is nowhere in the judgment that the court said the election should not hold. He went so far as to say, I don’t need police before I conduct the election.
“In that case, who is the perpetrator of that violence? It is not about blaming. The governor is the architect of the violence in Rivers.”
However,on Saturday, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) conducted elections into 23 chairmanship and 319 councillorship seats in the state.
The Action Peoples Party (APP) won 22 LGAs in the election, while the Action Alliance (AA) claimed victory in one LGA.
Consequently, Governor Fubara, on Sunday, swore in the newly elected LGA chairpersons.
On Monday, thugs burnt down parts of three LGA secretariats — Emohua, Eleme, and Ikwerre — to stop the elected officials from resuming their duties.
The build-up to the Rivers LGA elections was followed by controversy which was aggravated by conflicting court orders and pushback from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Recall that a high court in Rivers state, on September 4, ruled that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) could conduct the LGA elections making use of the 2023 voter register.
But on September 30, a federal high court in Abuja restricted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the voter register to RSIEC.
In the same ruling, the court barred the inspector-general of police (IGP) and the Department of State Services (DSS) from providing security for the elections.
Regardless of the federal high court judgement and the withdrawal of security personnel, the governor of Rivers said the election would proceed as planned.