You Have No Constitutional Power To Implement Tinubu’s Peace Deal – Rivers Elders Warn Fubara

The Rivers Elders and Leaders Forum has said they see no peace in the deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu as regards the political crisis rocking Rivers State.

Speaking via a statement on Wednesday, the forum noted that the peace accord signed at the presidential villa in Abuja “showed no sensitivity to the people’s security, political and social interests.”

The statement by the forum follows a Christmas Day broadcast by Governor Siminalayi Fubara, where he pledged to fully implement the presidential peace agreement reached to resolve the ongoing political crisis in the state.

Speaking to Journalists in Port Harcourt, former governor of Rivers State, Rufus Ada George, who read an open letter to the governor on behalf of the forum, noted that the peace accord signed at the presidential villa in Abuja is a death sentence.

The elders warned Fubara to be guided by the constitution he swore to uphold in his quest to restore peace to the state.

They insisted that the governor had no constitutional or legal power to implement Tinubu’s peace accord.

According to the open letter by the elders, “The forum believes that there could be peace in Port Harcourt and indeed the entire Rivers State if only Your Excellency would be circumspect in your actions, measured in your engagements, and have a critical mind in your review of events.

“Therefore, Mr Governor, you have no constitutional or legal power to implement the ‘Presidential Peace Proclamation’.”

Responding to a question on whether the governor has ever responded to their previous comments on the issue in the state, George clarified that, “We are not acting for or on behalf of the governor. We are acting as individuals or group of residents and indigenes of Rivers State and we are acting in accordance with the law, the constitution.

“We don’t need to wait for advice or to listen to information or a piece of written messages. We act based on what we know and perceive to be factual. And we know that an agreement or proclamation was written which was not in the best interest of Rivers people and we are acting on that.

“The governor may be taking his actions unknown to us; we don’t know; we have not exchanged any direct correspondence in relation to this issue or proclamation. We are acting in the interest of the Rivers people.”