Why Ijaw People Are With Fubara – Okaba

The President of Ijaw National Congress (INC), Benjamin Okaba, has said the crisis in Rivers State was caused by unquenched appetite for power.

Naija News reports that Professor Okaba said the people of Ijaw, under INC, were behind Governor Siminalayi Fubara because he has been doing the right thing.

In an interview with News Central on Sunday, Okaba said the only agreement Fubara must fulfill is the social contract he signed with the people of Rivers State.

He stressed that any other agreement was informal and should not disturb governance in the state. He further dismissed any ethnic coloration to the current political crisis in the state.

His words: “The situation in Rivers State is a perfect example of a class struggle, a class struggle between those who want to grab power at all costs and those who want to go the path of peace and governance that will need to sustainable development of the state.

“People are trying to provide some distorted coloration, it’s an ethnic war, no ethnic. It is people of different interests and who are supporting both sides of the coin based on their disposition and they are thinking about all of that. This is a case of injustice against somebody who has been properly elected.

“The underlying factor is that somebody is desperate to acquire power at all costs. The desperation has gone to the extent of not telling whether the security issues are come to play or not. So that should be at the background.

“Nigerians should understand that this is not about Wike and Fubara, it’s about two classes, antagonistic classes of people who want to grab and maintain, that is it. So it is on the premise of that the Ijaw National Congress has been very, very consistent in supporting the person we consider to be doing the right thing. And what is the right thing? The man who swore, who has been given a mandate to serve, to serve people of Rivers State. And all through, nobody has questioned what this Fubara has done that is not right. 

“The issues are about agreement, agreement. And we have said that the only agreement that subsists is the agreement with the people, not any individual. Yes, any agreement would be seen as informal. The formal agreement is a social contract entered by the Governor and its citizens, which is to provide services. That he has done excellently well. These other discussions are personal.”