The former Local Government Chairman of the Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Chijioke Ihunwo, has said that the state of emergency declared in Rivers State was an arrangement between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike in a bid to gain control of the state.

In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Ihunwo dismissed reports of an explosion in Rivers State, describing it as a fabricated excuse to justify the emergency rule.

?This is a cooped up arrangement between the FCT minister and the President. The explosion itself, the explosion itself that they claimed to have happened in Rivers State, is not true. The company has come out to say there was nothing such that never happened, never existed,? he said, going on to explain that the company had announced that there was a leakage in one of their pipes.

?So we now saw that there was an arrangement between Mr. President and the FCT minister to put a state of emergency in our state. There was not even a threat. People were going about, doing their normal business, minding their business in our state. People were moving around, doing their business, there was no problem in our state, everywhere was very calm,? he continued.

Ihunwo further defended Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, insisting he has no ties to militant groups and saying the sabotage was carried out by people who were attempting to seize control of the state?s resources as he said, ?There was no explosion. And let me also tell the world, our governor does not have any affiliation, any link to any militancy group. Our governor is a man of peace. So what was sabotaged was by some individuals who want to own our state, who want to own the resources that belongs to Rivers State.

?So there?s no problem, but by the grace of God, Rivers people are solidly behind our governor. Like I said before, I am one man that will stand by the governor until the end. So what they are doing is just for now. Future will tell. The man who wants to own our state, we wish him well, but we know that he can?t own our state. Rivers people are solidly behind the governor.?

Ihunwo also criticised President Tinubu?s handling of the state?s political crisis, arguing that Fubara had complied with the Supreme Court?s ruling but was obstructed by the state assembly.

He said, ?Mr. President acted in error by declaring a state of emergency in our state. Our governor is a very peaceful man. He?s a man that has conscience. And Nigerians are watching what Mr. President is doing. Our governor has obeyed the Supreme Court judgment. He said, look, I?m going to obey all the Supreme Court has said. He wrote a letter to the assembly, assembly was locked. And the governor also wrote another letter again to the assembly, I am coming to present this budget. What we expected Mr. President to do is to call the assembly, look, the governor has said he will implement the court judgment, allow the governor to present the budget to you people.

?However, what we saw was emergency rule in our state. And our people are very peaceful. We don?t want to go into violence. You also know that Mr. President has made our government more popular across the globe. A man who did not do anything, there?s no killing anywhere in Rivers state, and he sat down because of one man?s interest, Chief Barrister Nyesom Wike, who is an FCT Minister, he came and he started gossiping to Mr. President, Fubara did this, Fubara did that, and declared emergency rule in our state. No problem. The people are watching. And this state belongs to all of us. This state cannot be owned by one man. I keep telling people, they can?t own our state. We are going to support the sole administrator, since Mr. President has said that there will be an emergency rule. We will support him, but he should not come to destroy our state.? (AriseNews TV: Text, Excluding Headline)

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