By LAURA EBELEAKPO
The two main political players in the crisis engulfing Rivers State, Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, appear to have reached a truce on Monday night after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Villa in Abuja.
SYMFONI NEWS reported on Monday that President Tinubu met with sides involved in the crisis and secured commitments from all sides to abide by a set of eight resolutions reached at the parley.
At the end of the meeting, an eight-point communique entitled “DIRECTIVES FOR THE RESOLUTION OF THE POLITICAL IMPASSE IN RIVERS STATE”, was jointly signed by Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara; the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike; Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Prof Ngozi Odu; National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Martin Amaewhule; PDP Chairman in Rivers State, Aaron Chukwuemeka and his APC counterpart, Rivers State, Tony Okocha.
The primary goal of President Tinubu’s intervention was to mediate a truce between the two sides involved in the crisis; however, it appears that Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, won out against the incumbent governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
The communique directed Governor Fubara to withdraw all matters he has before the courts, just as it directed the State House of Assembly to drop all impeachment processes it initiated against the governor.
In addition, while all impeachment proceedings initiated against the Governor of Rivers State by the Rivers State House of Assembly should be dropped immediately, the communiqué said the leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by the Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule, shall be recognized alongside the 27 members who resigned from the PDP.
Other resolutions of the meeting include that the remunerations and benefits of all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and their staff must be reinstated immediately and the Governor of Rivers State shall henceforth not interfere with the full funding of the Rivers State House of Assembly;
-The Rivers State House of Assembly shall choose where they want to sit and conduct their legislative business without interference and/or hindrance from the Executive arm of government
-The Governor of Rivers State, Sir Fubara, shall re-present the state budget to a properly constituted Rivers State House of Assembly.
-The names of ALL commissioners in the Rivers State Executive Council who resigned their appointments because of the political crisis in the state should be resubmitted to the House of Assembly for approval, and
-There should NOT be a caretaker committee for the local governments in Rivers State. The dissolution of the Local Government administration is null and void and shall not be recognized.
