The Rivers State Elders and Leaders Forum has faulted the presidential peace meeting convened by President Bola Tinubu to mediate in the crisis that was raging in Rivers State, saying the agreements were against the Nigerian Constitution and the rule of law.
The elders, in two separate open letters to Tinubu and the Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, raised several concerns about the eight-point pact, arguing that the President does not have powers to give directives to a democratically elected governor or impose his will on the state.
Speaking on behalf of 15 prominent Rivers leaders, who signed the letter, the former governor of the state, Rufus Ada-George, in a statement, yesterday, read out the letter, faulting the entire eight-point directives.
Ada-George, who lauded the President for heeding their call to wade into the crisis rocking the state, also noted that they are at a loss as to whether Tinubu’s intervention has helped in quelling the crisis or escalated it.
He insisted that the peace pact is in favour of the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and to the detriment of the governor, as well as the interest of the generality of Rivers people.
He said: “The eight-point resolution asked for the reinstatement of commissioners who willfully resigned. The 27 former legislators, who, in all clear conscience and by legal implication, jumped ship and got themselves dismissed from the affairs of the state Assembly, are also to be reinstated and remunerated. This smacks of a sense of political irresponsibility, lack of sensitivity to the laws of the land and due process.
“Given the foregoing, it is obviously evident that Fubara, who is the Chief Executive Officer of state, was coerced into submitting to your premeditated action plan even when it is well known that the President does not possess such powers to give directives to a democratically elected governor or impose his will on the state.
“As far as we are concerned, that meeting did not hold, and those directives are not implementable, because to do so will be acting against the Constitution and the rule of law.”
Also, while reacting to Fubara’s statewide Christmas broadcast on Monday in which he emphasised that the presidential peace proclamation is not as bad as portrayed, Ada-George pointed out that the proclamation is a death sentence, because it breaches all legal and constitutional rights Fubara swore to protect.
He noted that the governor has no constitutional or any other legal power to implement the directives.
