The immediate past Rivers State Head of Service, Dr. George Nwaeke yesterday gave what appears to be yet the most revealing insider’s account of some of the events that culminated in the March 18 suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the state Assembly for six months.
Nwaeke, who claimed to have been an eyewitness to some of the actions taken by Fubara, spoke of how the suspended governor allegedly plotted the destruction of the State House of Assembly and economic sabotage to ensure the downfall of President Bola Tinubu.
Nwaeke, in a video press conference and a statement in the early hours of Saturday, March 29, claimed that Fubara masterminded the bombing of the state House of Assembly, using his Chief of Staff, Edison Ehie.
Nwaeke, who was appointed as head of the service by Fubara, said he was prompted to set the record straight following “loads of misinformation on print and electronic media.”
He said he was not sacked neither or pressured to resign but resigned “willingly from the depth of my heart.”
He said: ”However, as an insider and a key player in this administration by my position, who worked closely with Siminalayi Fubara, it will be unfair for me to keep silent or not address some key factors that have affected or will affect our state if we continue on this trajectory.”
He thanked the President for “a swift intervention in Rivers State crisis, especially on the state of emergency that was declared and assented to by the National Assembly.”
He added: “You will recall that when the governor was suspended, as the head of the service, I was the next in command. So, I am not speaking from the outside; I am speaking as an insider.
“If not for the intervention of Mr. President, Nigeria would have faced the worst economic sabotage and Rivers State would have been up in flames.
“First, it all started with the Rivers State House of Assembly where the Governor, Siminilayi Fubara, directed his Chief of Staff (Edison Ehie) to burn down the assembly in a way to avert his impeachment.
“That evening, Edison was in Government House with two other boys, including the former Chairman of Obio/Akpor LGA, one Chijioke. I was there with them when a bag of money was handed over to Edison for that operation, though I do not know the amount inside.
“I want to tell Rivers people today that the House of Assembly complex in Moscow Road was brought down by Edison Ehie under the instructions of Governor Siminilayi Fubara. I challenge him to an open confrontation, and I will throw more light on it.
“A day after that incident, I almost resigned, but I was very scared because I know the power of a sitting governor, and he knew that I was aware of the whole plan and that I was discomforted with the unconscionable act and deliberate posture of innocence and mien of a sheep.”
He also alleged that another attempt was made to “destroy the residential quarters of the House of Assembly members.”
Continuing, he said: “If not for the press conference that was held there by Rivers youths, Rivers elders, and National Assembly members, that would have been another barbaric demolition in Rivers State.
“I came to realize that they wanted to demolish that second building because, after some weeks, he told me that if he had known, he would have gone to pull down their hall before visiting the residential quarters of the assembly and that he didn’t know that they had such a beautiful hall where they are using now for their sitting.
“I was shocked and I asked myself how could a man that wants to lead his people be destroying his state assets and wasting public funds on a needless ego fight.”
Nwaeke appealed to critics of the declaration of emergency rule by President Tinubu to retract their statements, saying without the urgent intervention, a lot of things would have gone wrong in the state.
Such critics, according to him, ”are only seeing the surface. If the President did not take proactive steps, no one knows who would have been affected by the sinister plans that were cooking.”
He asked the President “not to give up on Rivers State affairs because a lot is going on there with Governor Fubara.”
He said one of the factors that “got me removed was when Governor Fubara told me that they would use the Ijaw to decide who would become the next president of Nigeria, and I asked him how that would work. Is it by votes or by what means?”
On an alleged plan to shoot down the second term of President Tinubu, Nwaeke said: “He clearly told me that he is the chief security officer of Rivers State and his brother is in charge of Bayelsa State, and all the pipelines are under their care; that at the appropriate time, they would tell the boys what to do, and the fund was not an issue.
“That was why when he made that statement in his public function that “I will tell the boys what to do at the appropriate time” I knew something was up and perhaps the time was near.
“He boasted to be the ‘David that will bring down the Goliath of Rivers State.’ That he has the backing of the cream-de-la cream in the state.
“The plan was to start from non-Ijaw speaking areas to destroy oil facilities to remove attention from the Ijaw and make it have a statewide look. The Ogoni, Oyibo, and Ahoda areas were to be bombed first before the Ijaw zones. This would have brought down the government of President Tinubu and ushushered a new President from the coalition of political parties with a Vice President from the Ijaw.
“The media was to be captured by paying heavily for airtime and retaining the social media influencers and known social critics on their payroll.
“I am not unaware of what this revelation means, but I am doing this to free my conscience and warn those innocent persons that are used to sway public sentiment that there is more than meets the eye in the Rivers matter.
“Sometimes I slept over in Government House. However, they started being uncomfortable when Governor Bala Mohammed and some other stakeholders started nocturnal visits to Rivers State.
“I recall after one of such visits he told me that he would support Bala Mohammed or any other northerner for president; that discussions were ongoing.
“Although I was not bothered about whom he supports, I was more concerned about the quantum of state resources that he releases to these visitors at each visit.”
Nwaeke asked the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to call their Rivers lalaboreaders to avoid popoliticizingalaborn the state.
He said he was privy to several private meetings between the governor and labor leaders in the state and the largesse that accompanied each meeting to compromise the Labour Union.
“More worrisome is several meetings between the governor, his chief of staff, and some militant leaders. The details of which meetings I was not privy to since I was not allowed into the meetings.
“However, each meeting ended with huge sums of money paid to attendees.”
He said Rivers people and the generality of Nigerians are “the beneficiary of the declaration of state of emergency rule in Rivers State and not Governor Fubara or Minister Wike.”
He stressed the need for the state’s Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd), to “step up his guards and be very vigilant because I am aware of the sinister arrangement and dastardly plans to continue to hatch their plans if not put in check.”
He said: “This accounts for the organized media condemnations and seeming public outcry against Mr. President and National Assembly.
“Those who love democracy and humanity will always protect humanity and democracy. Mr. President, you have just protected democracy and humanity in Rivers State. I can now sleep with my conscience clear.” he added.
