Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have gathered in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, for a crucial two-day meeting aimed at addressing key issues affecting the party, including the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State and the subsequent suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
This came following former Movement for the Enamcipation of Niger Delta, MEND leader, Chief Government Ekpemupolo alias Tompolo, broke his silence almost a month after state of emergency declaration in Rivers State and assured that Fubara would return to his post.
Meanwhile, former House of Representatives member, Dr. Farah Dagogo, has dragged President Tinubu, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker, House of Reps, Mr. Tajudeen Abbas and the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Etteh Ibas (retd), to court over the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.
In a related development, the Ijaw National Congress, INC, has expressed disgust over the wanton destruction and pulling down of billboards carrying the picture of the suspended Governor Fubara, in some parts of Rivers State.
It was gathered that the governors are to deliberate on their suit against the Federal Government at the Supreme Court which is challenging the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State and the subsequent suspension of Fubara.
The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Debo Ologunagba, confirmed that the meeting of the governors Forum began yestreday, in Ibadan, and ends today.
The source, who noted that the governors will also address the crisis rocking the party in the South-South, said: “The meeting is very crucial.
“Part of their agenda includes the Supreme Court judgment on the National Secretary, the upcoming National Executive Committee meeting, the South-South zonal leadership crisis, the state of emergency in Rivers State, the leadership crisis within the NWC, and other party matters that will be thoroughly discussed.”
Fubara will return to his seat —Tompolo
Tompolo made the revelation Saturday during his 54th birthday celebration at Aziza temple in Gbaramatu.
According to him: “I have sat on the throne of my father and all that is lost will return to glory, the Ijaws will never be conquered people, if Ijaws chose to go to war, the heavens will join us, I have never fought a battle and lost.
“Let’s continue to support President Tinubu, he will bring all the good things we desire to Ijaw Nation, he is not a bad person.
“On the issue of ward delineation, we and the itsekiris are not at war, they know the truth, the Gbaramatu town of Omadino is 40 years older than all Itsekiris communities, so why fighting someone older than you?, they know that if you put all the Itsekiris town together they are not close to the population in Okerenkoko, so INEC only revealed the truth.
“On the issue in Rivers State, because I have not spoken they say I have betrayed the Ijaw Nation, but I cannot betray Ijaw Nation, I have spent all my life fighting for Ijaw, but we have passed the stage of responding to Wike’s kind of statement, we are no longer in that level.”
Dagogo drags Tinubu, Akpabio, Ibas to court
A Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has fixed May 12, 2025, for hearing in the substantive suit filed by a former National and State Assembly member, Dr. Farah Dagogo against the suspension of Fubara and the state House of Assembly members.
To forestall difficulties in serving the defendants personally, the court granted an order for substituted services and fixed May 12, 2025 for hearing.
In the motion ex parte filed on April 8, 2025, the plaintiff’s legal team, led C. Enweluzo, requested the court to grant permission for substituted service of the originating summons and other related court processes.
Respondents in the suit are the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Asokoro, Abuja, the Senate President and the Senate of the Federal Republic at the National Assembly Complex, three Arms Zone, Abuja; Speaker of the House of Representatives at the same Assembly Complex, and Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd) at the Rivers State Government House, Old GRA, Port Harcourt.
INC fumes over destruction of Fubara’s billboards, portraits
Yesterday, some unidentified persons were seen tearing off the pictures of the governor with that of the immediate past council chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area in the state, Chijioke Ihunwo.
President of INC, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, said it was most barbaric for anybody to begin to pull down the billboards of a governor who was “unlawfully” suspended for no just reason.
Okaba urged the Sole Administrator to be a true professional by sacking all the administrators he appointed to oversee the affairs of the 23 local government areas in the state because “all his actions are illegal and the appointment of those administrators “unlawful.”
INC said that the removal of Governor Fubara’s pictures from the offices and eventual pulling down of his billboards were calculated plot to “provoke the governor’s camp to violence, so that they (government) will have enough reason to sustain the state of emergency in Rivers.
According to the Ijaw leader, “When an illegality strikes, it has the potency to multiply itself. The proclamation of a state of emergency and eventual imposition of a sole administrator on the state is unconstitutional. Despite the local and international outcry, the Federal Government remains adamant.
“The governor was not impeached. He was only suspended. So, why should anybody embark on the operation of dismantling anything that has to do with him? The sole administrator was clearly told not to make any laws. But here we are, he wants to prepare a new budget. He has done several appointments which people say is heavily lopsided.”
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