I Was Ambushed To Sign Peace Agreement – Fubara

Rivers State Governor Sir Siminalayi Fubara seems unbothered by the Federal High Court Abuja ruling, which barred the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from releasing the state’s monthly allocation.

This is because he declared that he was ambushed into signing a peace agreement during a meeting convened by President Bola Tinubu to end the conflict between him and the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike.

Fubara spoke on Wednesday evening at the Rivers State Day of Thanksgiving, Praise and Worship, held at the main bowl of Alfred Diette-Spiff Civic Centre, Port Harcourt.

The governor, who insisted that nothing happening now cannot be overcome, urged all Rivers people to brace up, be strong, and be assured that unity and peace are still intact.

He said: “I now ask the question: who is the winner? So, I tell you, this evening, we are here to thank God, to appreciate God, to say God the way you did it one year ago; we know you are going to do it again for us much more.

“So, you don’t need to bother about the stories on social media. That one is the least of your trouble. By tomorrow, I am still going to pay my contractors.

“By tomorrow, those of you who have not gotten your salaries, your alert will also come to you local government chairmen, they have had their JAAC, your money is coming to your accounts.

“Who is the loser? We are not doing luncheon here to celebrate loss or failure.

We are praising God because He is taking us to a higher position. So, you see the reason why you need to be happy? You see the reason why we chose today to celebrate the goodness of God in our state and in our lives? We can’t thank Him enough.”

Fubara has said that those who ruthlessly attempted to end his administration undemocratically, had boasted then to achieve their purpose quickly to boot him out of office within one week but have failed woefully.

The governor said he had not only stayed in office for more than one year and counting, but his administration is forging on strongly with sterling leadership, focused on delivering social services and quality projects to the Rivers people.

He expressed gratitude to God for His divine rescue by frustrating the schemes of detractors, acknowledging that without the overwhelming but organic support of Rivers people, his winning over his traducers would not have been entirely as sweet as it is now.

Fubara said: “If you were not with us, if you had not stood with us, we won’t be here at this hour. Many of you might not understand what happened on the 30th of October, 2023. It was an assassination to the people of Rivers State, indirectly and an assassination of me directly.

“Since they can’t kill every one of you, they need to kill one person so that everybody will be declared dead. But somehow, somewhere, by the special grace of God, they failed. And the God that we are thanking today, what they meant for evil, God turned it to good.”

The governor mocked his detractors, who had remained determined to derail governance, and insisted that despite their antics, his administration has demonstrated prudence, transparency, and accountability in handling the state’s financial resources.

Such public financial diligence, he noted, has attracted commendations from BudgIT, a civic-tech organisation that assessed Rivers State as maintaining the Number One spot in the 2024 Fiscal Performance Ranking among the 36 states of the federation.

Fubara said: “I can tell you, they said we are not going to last for one week, we are here, we have done one year plus. We are also doing one year anniversary of their attack.

“They said those buccaneers will not leave as local government chairmen, today, we have the 23 local government chairmen sitting here with us. They said their commissioners should resign so that we will be crippled. Today, we have more than 23 commissioners.

“They said, in a programme in Rivers State University, that we are not going to do anything, and that they want to frustrate us. They are going to make us not to succeed. But by the special grace of God, we have embarked on projects that are touching the lives of Rivers people.

“We didn’t end there. We have shown prudence that we are not here to steal your money; that we are here to be accountable. And yesterday, we saw it, it was declared by BudgIT that Rivers State has shown Transparency and Accountability and has ranked us in Number One position.”

He told the people that the journey of governance has been rewarding so far, adding that the most difficult part of the struggle had already been experienced.

Fubara restated the commitment of his administration to defend the interest of the state genuinely, adding that with the support of Rivers people, together, they will journey to the end.

The governor explained that he sincerely implemented the details of the Presidential Peace Accord, including withdrawing legal suits, saying that the other party violated the accord, and then proceeded to pursue their suits and secure judgment in their favour.

He said, “We made a promise to you that we would continue to defend and protect the interests of Rivers State genuinely, and we are not going back on that. We will do it, and we will follow through with it. With your support, we will journey it to the end.

“Because we are people of peace, if there is any advantage that was taken over us, it is because of our genuine interest in peace. The preacher said something about peace. I want to tell you that we went to Abuja, and Mr President, knowing the importance of peace in Rivers State, brought out some conditions. We came back here in this state.

“First, we did everything that has to be done with those conditions. We went to court immediately, withdrew our matters, but they did not. And you call yourself honourable when you cannot even obey simple instructions and blame it on Fubara.

“How is Fubara the problem? Fubara is not the problem! It was because we withdrew our matter, even the matter you filed, and we said we didn’t want to continue: you took advantage of it and went and got judgment. Is it not fraud?”

Fubara, who said such dishonourable persons should not come to the public to demand that people must listen to them, insisted that he acted more honourably, believing that the agreement should be what should bind everybody together.

He explained: “When I discovered that I am being ambushed, not by the person who initiated the peace, but by people who believed that they are smarter.

“But you know such smartness, no matter what you call yourself, it is still foolishness before God. That is why, as they said, those other things that they are looking for, to make them feel they are coming back to life, we will not do it. So, let me see how they will come to life when we don’t do it.”