‘Fubara Will Remove All The People Ibas Appointed Upon Resumption’ – Briggs

Renowned Niger-Delta activist, Ann-Kio Briggs, has categorically stated that President Bola Tinubu’s suspension of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Nma Odu, was based on misleading and incorrect information.

In an interview with Vanguard on Saturday, Briggs accused the president of being misinformed and deceived by those around him.

“Not only was the president given wrong information, all along, the president has been lied to. It seems the president has never been to Rivers State, so he talks and listens to the people who claim they support him, as if Rivers State people and Ijaw do not support him, which is a big lie,” Briggs remarked.

She continued, emphasizing that the suspension was unjust and unfounded, citing the state’s House of Assembly complex, which she said was over 80% completed with payments already made by Governor Fubara.

“To have anchored the suspension on the claim that he destroyed the complex, which is not proved, and did nothing to provide an alternative place, is a lie,” she added.

Briggs also addressed claims that the suspension was due to insecurity in the state, calling these reports misleading.

She stated, “The president said there was a crisis in the state, indicating insecurity in Rivers State. That, too, was a lie. There was no insecurity. Under the circumstances in which we are operating – the governor of Rivers State is under suspension, all the appointments made by the governor have been cancelled, and new people are coming—it begins to agitate a reasonable person’s mind. If you say you are suspending him for six months, and assuming you revisit the issue, why are the people being removed?

“Not only was our money withheld and now given to the sole administrator, but you also removed people. When Fubara returns, he will remove all the people the sole administrator is putting there because what he is doing is dangerous.

“Why is this uncertainty being created in Rivers State? What have we done as a people? If the president looks back, he would see that everybody is saying he did the wrong thing; the only ones who say that what he did is right are those who claim to support him in Rivers. Are strangers the ones that will come in and deliver the president in 2027 if he is re-contesting for a second tenure? It cannot be.

“The president has been unjust and unfair. Nobody is infallible, so if the president acted based on wrong information, that is a great precedent. He should re-appraise and say he made the decision acting on wrong information, and based on that, the suspension is lifted. We will see him as a great president.”

Naijaonpoint reports that Briggs regretted that the president had not adhered to the rule of law in handling the political crisis in the state, adding that the sole administrator was going on with illegalities.

The activist stated, “By what is happening in Rivers State, it can be deduced that the rule of law in this instance has not been adhered to. The Supreme Court said the state should receive its money only when the governor presents a budget to the House of Assembly and it is approved. How did the president release Rivers’ money to a sole administrator against the law? We, the Rivers people, are angry.

“Secondly, we hear, but it is not proven, that the sole administrator is preparing to appoint local government chairmen. We ask where he derives the power to appoint local government chairmen. The Supreme Court has said local government chairmen should be elected, not appointed, or interim chairmen.

“If we have voted, and the Supreme Court said all that was null and void, and the governor removed all the chairmen we voted for, and now the sole administrator wants to appoint local government chairmen, where is the sole administrator getting his powers from? Who told him that he can come to Rivers State and handpick a local government chairman against the law?

“If a governor has been suspended, we hear that the picture of our governor has been removed from the Government House. That is something that will agitate the people of Rivers State. Fubara is not fired; he is on suspension, and everybody has said the suspension is illegal.

“In all that is happening in Rivers State, it is only the president who can bring answers to all the questions. As of now, reasons have shown that there are no facts to suspend the governor of Rivers State. There was no insecurity and blowing up pipelines in Rivers State, and the companies have said nothing was blown up. When you look at all these things, some people do these things to pin everything on the governor. If you know Rivers State, you will understand that the level of calm in the state now is because the suspended governor is a man of peace, and his followers toe the path he has shown them.

“I call on the president to consider all these and let peace reign. We cannot have two governors in this state. The sole administrator should stop seeing himself as the governor of Rivers State; he is not.”

Briggs stressed that the people of Rivers State felt as if they were under military rule rather than civilian governance.

She concluded, “The interpretation of the Rivers people themselves is that they are under military rule in a civilian and democratic dispensation. Boko Haram has sacked many people in Borno State; yet, they are not under military rule. Why should we be under military rule?”