Suspected members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and their supporters in Rivers State have protested against President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in the political crisis rocking the state.
The protesters, who stormed the Government House, Port Harcourt, in solidarity with the state governor, Siminilayi Fubara, on Friday, rejected President Tinubu’s peace resolutions.
They described the President’s intervention as unjust and dictatorial.
Many of them donned white T-shirts with the PDP logo, sang solidarity songs and waved their party’s flags.
It could be recalled that President Tinubu had intervened in the political crisis rocking the state, as the factional Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, was mandated to recognise 27 members of the Assembly who had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In the eight-point resolution from the closed-door meeting that President Tinubu had with Governor Siminalayi Fubara, former governors of the state, Peter Odili and Nyesom Wike, who is the Minister of the Capital Territory, along with other stakeholders at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
However, political crisis ravaging the state followed a prolonged disagreement between Governor Fubara and Wike, his predecessor and political godfather.
The political crisis deepened between October 29 and 30, this year, when the hallowed chamber of the House of Assembly was burnt, following alleged moves to impeach Fubara.
This led to the emergence of two factional speakers – Matins Amaehule, who is loyal to Wike; and Edison Ehie, a strong supporter of Fubara.
However, as the crisis worsened, 27 members of the house said to be loyal to Wike announced their defection to the APC.
But one of them later made a U-turn.
To stop the lingering crisis, the president and some stakeholders from the state held a closed-door meeting last Monday.
Meanwhile, at the end of the close-door meeting, an eight-point resolution was reached and all the stakeholders appended their signatures to bring the crisis to an end.
However, several people including the elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, have rejected President Tinubu’s intervention, describing it as “baffling, appalling and unacceptable” to the people.
He said it was “sacrilegious” for such resolutions to have emanated from Nigeria’s seat of power, Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
However, the protesters who stormed the government house in solidarity included students, youths, civil society organisations and labour unions.
The protesters converged at the Government House in Port Harcourt early Friday morning.
