A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former lawmaker representing Ekiti North Senatorial District, Senator Ayo Arise, has revealed that President Bola Tinubu would soon lift the suspension on Governor Siminalayi Fubara to return to office.
The APC chieftain who spoke in an interview with journalists on Saturday added that the recent statement of Vice President, Kashim Shettima at a public event was not made to vilify President Tinubu.
According to Senator Arise, the peace process is yielding positive results, with warring groups agreeing to embrace peace in the interest of the state.
“I believe the president’s intervention has been quite helpful in stabilizing the situation in Rivers State,” Arise said, commending President Tinubu’s efforts.
“The president’s leadership has been instrumental in preventing further escalation of the crisis, and we appreciate his commitment to peace and stability in the region.”
“We can see that progress is being made significantly towards reabsorbing Fubara to his seat,” Arise said in an interview with journalists on Saturday.
“And the fact that the governor and his erstwhile predecessor in office were at loggerheads, I think the best thing that happened was that the president took leadership and before things broke down beyond repairs, he had this state of emergency proclamation and I believe by and large, he followed the procedure.”
Arise also clarified recent remarks made by Vice President Kashim Shettima, who credited former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, with saving him from removal as Governor of Borno State during his tenure.
Arise emphasized that Shettima’s comments were a show of gratitude and should not be misinterpreted as criticism of President Tinubu’s actions in the Rivers State situation.
Arise said, “I believe, what the vice president did was to go and make a comment to say thank you to somebody who did him a favour because it was a favour.
“There’s no way Boko Haram could have taken almost 14 local governments and a President will sit down and say a state of emergency will not exist to save that governor from the invaders, the Boko Haram people.
“So I think the fact that Adoke suggested to the then president that he couldn’t remove him, which is neither here nor there, even though there’s no remover in the case of Fubara.
We can see that progress being made significantly towards, reabsorbing Fubara to his seat.
The APC chieftain stressed that the two scenarios are completely different, highlighting the complexities of governance and the need for decisive action in times of crisis.
“So for those people saying that the president does not have the powers to remove a Governor, I think it’s a no,” Arise said. “The outcome would have been very different. So Adoke didn’t do Nigeria any favour or any governor any favour because if I were the president and I saw danger facing the governor and the people of the state, I would have removed the governor and put a military person there to face these people.”
