Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has said those antagonising his administration are envious and frustrated, saying he is currently building a psychiatric hospital for the benefit of his detractors.
He said his opponents and detractors were pained because he had achieved within one year what they did in eight years.
This came 24 hours after the former governor and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, at a reception on Saturday in his honour by the Rivers Ijaw Peoples Congress, mocked Fubara for resorting to joining the Action Peoples Party, saying he would teach the governor how to play politics.
At the event, the Executive Director of Finance and Administration of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Chief Boma Iyaye, apologised to Wike for Fubara’s alleged misdeeds.
Reacting, however, on Sunday, Fubara said he had always stood on the path of truth and would not need anybody to apologise on his behalf for doing the right things for the good of the state.
He said his administration stood firm to secure Rivers commonwealth from the grip of those who were determined to lay hold on its soul.
The reply came as the Rivers Ijaw Foundation lampooned Wike over his utterances against the Ijaw leader and elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark.
The group said the recent attacks on two prominent Ijaw sons were crude, divisive and disrespectful to them, the Ijaw and an incitement of hate against the tribe.
Fubara, speaking at the inter-denominational church thanksgiving service organised as part of activities marking the 64th Independence Day celebration of Nigeria, held at St. Paul’s Cathedral of the Anglican Communion at Garrison Junction in Port Harcourt, on Sunday, said he would continue to do his best without fear.
He said, “They even say, they don’t know what we are doing. Let me remind them that it is Fubara who signed the paper to borrow from Zenith Bank the N200bn for the construction of the Port Harcourt Ring Road. So, it is my project.
“It is Fubara that awarded the Trans-Kalabari Road that they couldn’t do. They only did a bridge from Krakrama, but I am the one doing it: the complete span, and it is N22bn. I didn’t borrow.
“It is this same Fubara that is building a General Hospital, which I also included a psychiatric hospital because they will need it very soon. So, tell them that what I did in one year is what they did in eight years.
“It is only empty containers that make noise. If God has given you an opportunity, eat your plantain and keep quiet. God will continue to give us the strength to do the best for our people, without fear.”
Fubara insisted that if his political enemies continued to deride the grace of God in his life, they would continue to struggle for needless public recognition that depicted how much they had fallen out of grace.”
He said his policy was not to embark on a mere jamboree of groundbreaking for projects as he assured that any project he started would be inaugurated and put to public use.
“Very soon, you will see what we are doing. It is not about doing roads for your business interest. I don’t have any business interests. Whatever I am doing, I am doing it for the people of Rivers State.
“We will not take any decision that we cannot defend. We won’t be part of anything that will bring any form of disgrace to our dear state. This state is important to us. It is the only thing that we have.
“It is a beautiful pride. That is why they are struggling, coupled with the improvement in internally generated revenue we have done. That is why they are struggling, we know. But, do it with modesty, you don’t need to destroy the house.”
He said God had not taken away some of the people disturbing the peace of the state because He wanted them to repent, adding that if they refused, God would come heavily.
“The frustration you are seeing in their faces today is about this point we have gotten. So, please, be strong. All the Babylonians that we are seeing today, you will not see them again.
“God has a reason for allowing the devil or the evil one to stay long. It is not that He can’t take him or take them away but He gives them time to repent.
“And when they continue, He will come heavily, and then, they would say, it would have been better that they had left when they had time. That will be our story in this state.
“But, you see, anybody that is making noise for recognition, it is a sign that he has lost it. By the special grace of God, I don’t need an introduction. I have the name, and I am the one standing here.”
He reiterated that he remained a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, as he assured the people that the most difficult stage of the political crisis in the state was over.
“I will beg every one of you, God has given us this opportunity, we must safeguard it. They are the ones looking for a way to destroy it.
“They didn’t believe we would get to this point, and I can tell you I had a reason for inviting all the candidates for the local government election for this service.
“I am a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, but I know that there will be an election that I am conducting. So, I have to invite you to come and receive prayers. And little did I know, the Bishop gave you the prayers.
“For those of you participating in the election, please, I want the election to be peaceful, very important. When you emerge, our major concern is the people. Care for the people. We have taken Rivers State into a different driveway,” he said.
The governor said most of the decisions taken by his administration may not have been popular but added that they were necessary if the state must be protected from detractors.
He urged everyone to join hands with his administration to tackle the big task of securing the soul of the state and making it a proud place for all Rivers people.
He added, “And I tell you, with due respect my Dean, when you said our National Anthem was changed, for me, I like this new one, more especially where it says – ‘a nation built, where no man is oppressed’ – it is so unique.
“And if that is where I stand, you should understand, I can’t be a party to oppressing anybody. And for the fact that I can’t be a party to oppress anybody, by the special grace of God, nobody can oppress me. Please, we need to join hands together to sustain and develop our state.”
He lamented the issue of oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism in the state, as he called for such an act of economic sabotage should not continue.
“The security agencies are doing their best. As a government, we are also planning to have a special committee to tackle this problem.
“We need to improve the level of our production. That is the only way that we can get out of this situation. The situation is bad. There are no two ways about it. But we must come together as one to support what the centre is doing, so our lives can change,” he said.
The governor added, “As a matter of fact, I belong to that school of thought that if I am the only person that needs to stand on that side of right, I will stand there. I don’t need anybody to stand with me.
“I cannot give my kidney or liver to anybody, I won’t. If that is the only reason for me to be loyal, I will not be. But, I will not do the wrong thing. I will stand for the side of the right.
“I make bold to say it, there is no security agency in this state that I have called any day to go and do something wrong. I have never. I don’t need it. But I know what they do, and they keep failing because God has left them.”
In his sermon at the service, the Archbishop of Niger Delta Province, Most Reverend Blessing Enyindah, bemoaned Nigeria at its 64th Independence anniversary, saying it seemed like a country under siege, wherein its citizens were held up as captives with no hope brighter than noonday to expect.
Enyindah, who is the Bishop of the Diocese of Ikwerre, and Dean of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, blamed leaders across sectors, particularly political leaders for the nation’s woes.
He said instead of liberating the people from social, economic and political imprisonment, the political leaders accentuated poverty, economic hardship and soaring prices of goods.
He asked them to stop enacting irrelevant policies and resist the temptation of perpetuating themselves in office for Nigeria to become the country it should truly be.
He also asked judicial officers to break away from issuing conflicting judgments that could promote a miscarriage of justice.
In a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Sunday by the Director of Publicity, Sotonye Ijuye-Dagogo and sent to newsmen, the Rivers Ijaw Foundation said, “Wike repeatedly disrespected the revered national leader and father of the Ijaw nation, Chief E.K. Clark, on national television. He maligned former Governor Rufus Ada-George and Governor Siminalayi Fubara. He incited hatred against Ijaws in Rivers State.
“In the same manner, the communique of the so-called Ogoni, Oyigbo People’s Assembly contained disrespect for the Ijaw national leader, Chief E.K. Clark and the people of Opobo-Ijaw.
“After an extensive review of the utterances made by former Governor Nyesom Wike and his cohorts, the Rivers Ijaw Foundation considers it a duty to put the records straight as follows:
“The Rivers Ijaw Foundation considers the utterances of former Governor Nyesom Wike and the so-called Ogoni, Oyigbo People’s Assembly as crude, rude, cultureless, insensitive and divisive.
“We condemn in the strongest terms, the disrespect to our highly revered national leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark and former Governor Ada-George by Nyesom Wike and his political cronies. We are utterly disgusted by the attack on Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the unwarranted incitement of hate against the Rivers Ijaw people by Nyesom Wike and his cohorts.”
The group requested President Bola Tinubu to call Wike to order, adding that the President must not give the impression that he prioritised political exigencies above the peace, happiness and prosperity of Rivers people and Ijaw.
The foundation said former President Goodluck Jonathan, an Ijaw son, never had ministers who publicly disrespected elder statesmen like Pa Reuben Fasoranti, Chief Olu Falae and Pa Ayo Adebanjo, though his greatest critics were from the South West.
“President Bola Tinubu must call Nyesom Wike to order or risk being asked to choose between Wike and the entire Ijaw nation,” the statement said.
