‘Rivers political crisis may consume Nigeria’s democracy’, Bode George warns Tinubu

Chief Bode George

Published By: Ayorinde Oluokun

By Adeyemi Adeleye

Former Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olabode George, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently intervene in the ongoing political crises in Rivers to avert the breakdown of law and order in the state.

George who described the crisis in Rivers as a time bomb waiting to explode and nobody should sit on the fence and pretend as if everything was okay.

He therefore also appealed to the party’s elders and stakeholders to intervene in the political crisis rocking Rivers to stop it from becoming a national conflagration.

He also urged President Bola Tinubu not to see the crisis as a PDP matter

George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) member, in a statement in Lagos, said intervention of PDP elders was imperative to stop the crisis from becoming ” .

The State House of Assembly has been polarised since 2023 following the rift between Fubara and Mr Nyesom Wike, Minister, Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The crisis, which has led to several threats to impeach the governor, assumed a new dimension on Wednesday when lawmakers loyal to Fubara appointed a factional speaker of the House of Assembly.

Lawmakers loyal to Wike had recently defected to APC.

He said Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution states that a member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if ” being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political Party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected”,

George said that all the PDP lawmakers who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) had automatically lost their seats.

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The PDP chieftain said: “They are in no position to threaten Governor Fubara. So, their plot to commence impeachment proceedings against the governor is already in vain.

“Rivers people belong to PDP. Those threatening to impeach the governor are being remote-controlled by some forces.

“This must stop because if Rivers is set on fire today, that may end this democracy.

“We should remember ‘Operation Wetie’ which started in the defunct Western Region and eventually consumed the nation and ended the First Republic in 1966.

“All the actors in this crisis in Rivers should avoid actions likely to cause breach of peace and breakdown of law and order in our country.”

According to him, members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party should be the elders in the room, act swiftly and nip this crisis in the bud before it consumes everybody.

He said that all the gladiators should also think of the collective interest of Nigerians.

“Whether we are members of PDP, APC or other parties, we should stop issuing provocative statements to increase the tension in Rivers.

“Any move that can truncate this democracy must be stopped immediately. Enough is enough,” he said..

(NAN)