A source has opened up on why the suspended governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, was conspicuously absent during the Local Government election conducted by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).

According to The Daily Post, Fubara’s key supporters, including Chief of Staff Edison Ehie, Secretary to the Government Tammy Danagogo, and other notable loyalists, were absent from their respective polling units during the election.

Similarly, the 23 former local government chairmen whom the Supreme Court sacked also shunned the election.

One of the loyalists, who spoke to the publication as mentioned above, said there was no need to participate in the exercise, stating that “we knew the winners before the election started. So why do we need to waste our precious time to go and vote? Vote for who?”

He clarified that the governor is not in the country at the moment, saying “we are expecting him to be back early next month, close to when he will be returning to the office.

“Most of the things happening today are parts of the agreement Wike and Fubara signed in the presence of Mr President. They have taken the power from the governor,” he added.

According to him, “Fubara believes that there is nothing, including his seat, that cannot be sacrificed for the sake of peace. Have you seen where an elected president removes another elected leader before? It has never happened.

“We all listened to Shettima when he said the president has no power to suspend even a local government chairman, not to talk of a sitting governor, but it has happened and they did it successfully. That’s the country we live in today”.