Siminialayi Fubara, the Rivers State Governor, has expressed that he has endured significant hardships amid the state’s ongoing political crisis, having chosen not to share his own narrative publicly.
Fubara, who insisted that he had never refused to meet with members of the state House of Assembly, said he had been wrongly judged because people heard only one version of events.
“I am a gentleman and a very principled person. The reason I am saying this here is that I have suffered too much because of single story,” he said.
According to him, “A lot of things happened and nobody has heard my own side. I want to say it here, Speaker and members of the Assembly, I have made effort to meet with you. I am just waiting for that meeting to be fixed.”
Fubara clarified that the delay in meeting the Speaker, Martins Amaewhule, and other lawmakers did not come from him, but from the insistence that such engagements must be arranged by the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Nyesom Wike.
He said: “I have made every effort. I believe that the leadership of the state council that is led by Ferdinand Anabraba can attest to this.
“I have made every effort to meet with them, but they don’t want me to call them directly. It was for my leader to arrange the meeting, which up till this moment, that meeting has not been fixed.”
The Rivers State Governor insisted that he had never avoided the legislators.
“So, how people go about saying I don’t want to meet them and attend to their demands, that is pure lies. I don’t have any reason to do that,” Fubara said.
He stressed that he is committed to addressing any concerns the lawmakers may have.
“I have personally said whatever is their need, I am ready to meet it so that we can have peace in the state… Whoever is telling you that I don’t want to meet members of the Assembly is not true,” the Governor reiterated.
The governor explained that his refusal to bypass party leaders in arranging the meetings was deliberate.
“I have met with our leaders and they said they are going to arrange meeting, but I don’t want to go behind them. Let it not be as if I want to divide the house,” Fubara noted, adding that his interest is not personal, but for the progress of Rivers State.
“Please, we need to come together for the interest of this state. It is not about me. It is about this state,” he stressed.
