The Rivers State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Tony Okocha, has stated that the suspended Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, must face the full weight of the law, regardless of any potential defection to the APC.
He also said that the sins of the embattled Governor can’t be forgiven even if he joins APC, stressing the offences committed were not political but against the people of Rivers State, according to the judgement delivered by the Supreme Court.
Okocha stated this on Tuesday while addressing newsmen at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja.
Okocha also noted that despite the presidential directive, the suspended governor should have embarked on reconciliatory moves, as a panacea to peace but he lamented that Fubara has yet to initiate such, stating that “no reconciliatory move is ongoing in the state.”
Asked if the governor will be forgiven if he defects to APC, Okocha said, “If Fubara decides to join APC today, his sins cannot be forgiven because his suspension has nothing to do with politics.
“You will jump into the APC today, and your sins are forgiven. That can’t be true. It won’t work that way. Then, it would have made the APC a dumping ground for people who commit misdemeanours and believe that by and large, we will come for reconciliation. No.”
On the presidential directive on reconciliation, Okocha said: “I can confirm that there is no reconciliation effort currently underway in Rivers. The suspended Governor Fubara has not made any move to reconcile with the lawmakers. Only genuine reconciliation can save him from impeachment, as the Supreme Court judgment stands.
“There is no reconciliation ongoing, not to my knowledge, I should know because I am the Chairman of the Rivers APC. I have spoken with all the strata of the society in the state, but none has agreed that the bygone should be bygone.
“The little I know in political science, the President did not take that decision alone. He consulted some stakeholders. He consulted the National Assembly, and the National Assembly ratified it.”
He declared that the Rivers APC leadership is not worried that Fubara has met with the President a couple of times.
“APC is not a dumping ground. He must follow the procedures before he can be admitted. He can not come through the window. He must come through the door. He has to join from his ward.
“Fubara’s suspension and the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State had no business whatsoever with politics. It was about his misdemeanour, and I said to you that he said that the president saved his job by declaring a state of emergency.
“Don’t forget that the Supreme Court, in its judgment, had said that there was no government in Rivers State. So, if there was no government in Rivers State, something must be done, and that which happened was the declaration of the State of Emergency…
“If Fubara decides to join the APC, it has nothing to do with a state of emergency in Rivers state. His sins can not be forgiven because he came to our party. It is not true. He has not spoken to me. He will enter the party through the door, not the window. Not only him.”
