On Monday, Rivers State Governor Sim Fubara slammed members of the House of Assembly, stating that they don’t exist.
According to Fubara, he can deny them recognition as legislators since the Peace Accord he and his predecessor, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, signed was political.
He spoke while addressing a delegation of political and traditional leaders from Bayelsa State who visited him at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital, to seek an end to the political crisis in Rivers State and an improved relationship between both states.
Fubara said the lawmakers are existing based on his recognition predicated on the Peace Accord initiated by Tinubu.
He said: “Those group of men who claim that are Assembly members are not Assembly members, they are not existing. I want it to be on record. I accepted that Peace Accord to give them a floating.
“That is the truth. There was nothing in that Peace Accord that’s a constitutional issue; it’s a political solution to a problem.
“And I accepted it because these were people that were eating in my house, these were people I have helped pay their children’s school fees when I wasn’t even a governor. So, what is the thing there?
“We might have our division but I believe that one day, we could also come together but it has gotten to a time when I have to make a statement that they are not existing.
“Their existence is me allowing them to exist. If I de-recognise them, they are nowhere. I want you to see the sacrifice I have made in allowing peace to reign in our state.”
Fubara and Wike have been at loggerheads since he assumed office as governor.
The face-off led to some lawmakers defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress.
To ensure peace, Tinubu had ordered both factions to sign a peace deal which included recognizing the aggrieved state lawmakers loyal to Wike.