Governor Siminalayi Fubara has taunted his political rivals in Rivers State, saying that they failed in their plot to impeach him as he remained the governor of the oil-rich South-South state.
“I want to urge everyone here. Don’t be frightened,” the governor said on Sunday at a crossover church service at St Paul’s Archdeaconry Parish in the Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area of the state.
“What they (opponents) want is this red biro,” Fubara said raising a red pen to the cynosure of all eyes. “But it is still with me; they have failed.”
“We are the winners because we are still signing with the red biro. And so long as we are signing with the red biro, development will continue in Rivers State.
“2024 will witness unprecedented height in our state. The only thing we ask from you is your support and prayers,” the governor stated.
Rivers State was a theatre of the absurd in the last three months with the state House of Assembly being the “boxing ring”. The rift between Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, split lawmakers in the House with 27 of them decamping from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a party in whose central government Wike currently serves as minister.
The feud also saw the emergence of parallel sittings, an impeachment plot against the governor, the demolition of the Assembly complex, and a gale of resignations of pro-Wike commissioners from Fubara’s cabinet.
President Bola Tinubu and some elder statesmen had intervened in the crisis earlier in October but it degenerated into a full-blown fight. The President again met with Wike and Fubara and members of their individual camps in December and a truce was reportedly reached.