Give Fubara Time To Settle – Elder Statesman Knocks Rivers Assembly

Give Fubara Time To Settle, Stop Rushing Him – Elder Statesman Knocks Rivers Assembly
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Elder statesman and Convener of the Rivers State Leaders of Thought, Sunny Chukwumele, has criticised the Rivers State House of Assembly for directing Governor Siminalayi Fubara to present the state budget and submit a list of commissioner nominees shortly after his reinstatement.

Fubara, alongside his deputy Ngozi Odu and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, was suspended from office on March 18, 2025, by President Bola Tinubu as part of a state of emergency declaration.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the decision stemmed from a political crisis linked to Fubara’s power tussle with his predecessor and political godfather, Nyesom Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The suspension effectively paralysed democratic governance in the state until their recent reinstatement.

At its first sitting after resumption, the House directed Fubara to immediately submit the state budget and a list of commissioner nominees.

Reacting in an interview with The Punch, Chukwumele faulted the lawmakers’ approach, insisting that the governor should have been given time to stabilise.

“They ought to have paid him a visit first, not in their plenary begin to dish out directives to the elected Governor. That was a very wrong step and a wrong move,” he said.

Chukwumele, however, commended Fubara for dissolving the State Pensions Board and called on him to also dissolve the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, describing it as a necessary step for reforms.

“We would be looking forward to further actions. He also must dissolve the State Independent Electoral Commission and other actions that will come from there,” he added.