The Rivers Elders and Leaders Forum has posited that State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has no legal right to enforce the peace deal brokered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the State.
They pointed that they see no peace in the deal brokered by Tinubu as regards the political crisis rocking Rivers State.
In a Wednesday statement, the forum noted that the peace accord signed at the presidential villa in Abuja “showed no sensitivity to the people’s security, political and social interests.”
Their reaction follows Fubara’s Christmas Day broadcast, where he pledged to fully implement the presidential peace agreement reached to resolve the ongoing political crisis in the state.
Former Governor of Rivers State, Rufus Ada George, who read an open letter to the Governor on behalf of the forum, noted that the peace accord signed at the presidential villa in Abuja is a death sentence.
The elders warned Fubara to be guided by the constitution he swore to uphold in his quest to restore peace to the State.
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Insisting that the Governor has no constitutional or legal power to implement Tinubu’s peace accord, they noted that: “The forum believes that there could be peace in Port Harcourt and indeed the entire Rivers State if only Your Excellency would be circumspect in your actions, measured in your engagements, and have a critical mind in your review of events.
“Therefore, Mr Governor, you have no constitutional or legal power to implement the ‘Presidential Peace Proclamation’.”
Responding to a question on whether the Governor has ever responded to their previous comments on the issue in the State, George clarified that, “We are not acting for or on behalf of the governor. We are acting as individuals or group of residents and indigenes of Rivers State and we are acting in accordance with the law, the constitution.
“We don’t need to wait for advice or to listen to information or a piece of written messages. We act based on what we know and perceive to be factual. And we know that an agreement or proclamation was written which was not in the best interest of Rivers people and we are acting on that.
“The governor may be taking his actions unknown to us; we don’t know; we have not exchanged any direct correspondence in relation to this issue or proclamation. We are acting in the interest of the Rivers people.”
