President Bola Tinubu, yesterday intervened between Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and his immediate predecessor, Mr Nyesom Wike, to end the ongoing sudden political crisis that bemoaned the state.
President Tinubu used the opportunity of the Police Council meeting which both attended as members, to mediate and perhaps end the feud between the two political allies.
The President’s intervention was disclosed by the Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting presided over by the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Despite their feud, Fubara and Wike had earlier exchanged pleasantries inside the Council Chambers venue of the meeting before it commenced.
Mohammed, who is the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum, PDP-GF, also disclosed that the opposition governors had resolved to work with the President because he has shown good faith by not interfering with governorship cases brought before the courts by PDP members.
To the surprise of some onlookers, Fubara and his estranged godfather and incumbent Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike exchanged pleasantries when they met in Aso Villa.
The duo are among the 36 state governors and others invited to attend the Police Council meeting presided over by President Tinubu.
Other state governors at the meeting were Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Abdullahi Abba (Kano), and Bassey Otu (Cross River).
Before they went into a closed-door session, some of the governors, including Wike and the National Security Adviser, NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, were sighted as they engaged in discussions while others exchanged banters.
Thereafter, Wike proceeded to shake hands and briefly exchanged pleasantries with Governor Fubara after disengaging from the NSA.
It was the first time Fubara (dressed in white kaftan) and Wike (also spotted in a white kaftan) are meeting face-to-face since the reported spat between them started.
A reported crisis between Fubara and Wike is said to have led to moves by 24 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to impeach Governor Fubara, resulting in turbulence in the state on Monday, as the governor’s loyalists stormed the Assembly complex in protest against the plot.
This came after the bombing of the state House of Assembly located along Moscow Road in Port Harcourt by suspected arsonists on Sunday. A section of the chamber was damaged, and some valuables were destroyed.
It was also reported that the governor’s loyalists in the House of Assembly have removed the Speaker and replaced him with the Leader of the House.