Rivers Peace Pact Not A Legal Document – Wike’s Ex-Aide

Opunabo Inko-Tariah who is a former special adviser on media to former Rivers State governor Nyesom Wiike, has affirmed that the eight-point peace resolution initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is not a legal document, but a political solution.

His views came a day after the state Governor Siminalayi Fubara warned his detractors not to take him for a ride because of the peace accord, which he asserted was a mere political solution.
Inko-Tariah, who stated this yesterday while addressing newsmen in Port Harcourt, said the document reawakens the reminiscences of the Aburi Accord, that eventually led to the Nigerian civil war.
He said, “The eight-point resolution is not a legal document. It is a political solution. It reawakens the reminiscences of the Aburi Accord. If the governor had come back and said, Mr. President said this and this must be done, Rivers’ people will revolt.

“The support the governor is having today is not necessarily because he is being loved so much. Let me put in that way. Now, probably because of his policies and programmes, people are beginning to love him. But, as at that time, to a lot of Rivers people who had been snared in the flame of oppression, dictatorship, it was like thank God, that era is past.

“Even when this governor came in, a lot of people were scared that he will continue in that same style of governance. We saw this government as Wike’s third term in office. But, when we saw that difference, we said oh!”

Inko-Tariah stated that for the political crisis in the state to be resolved, the feuding parties must swallow their pride and come to a roundtable. The former media aide said, “The worst crisis to contain is ego crisis. First and foremost, it has to do with your state of mind, your thinking and it goes beyond rational thinking.

“Ordinarily, one would expect that you call him a boy, his is a boy, your son. Peter Odili tried to intervene; that is the genesis of their problem. The only way you can resolve the crisis is that the feuding parties must swallow their pride.

“They must have the interest of the state at heart. If you don’t have the interest of the state at heart and you are only trying to project and protect your interest, you can never resolve the issue. That is why I said it has to do with the genuine intention of the feuding parties.”