On Monday, Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara announced that he intended to form a judicial panel of inquiry to look into the way the state’s governance was handled prior to his appointment.
It’s thought that Fubara was making a jab at his estranged political godfather and immediate predecessor, Nyesom Wike.
The conflict between them took a new turn when Wike-supporting members of the state House of Assembly tried to remove Fubara from office in October of last year.
On Monday, Fubara called on the new Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Dagogo Iboroma (SAN), to brace up for legal challenges ahead.
He spoke at the Government House in Port Harcourt, during the swearing-in of Iboroma as the new attorney general of the state, hours after the three-member factional state House of Assembly loyal to the governor sanctioned the SAN’s nomination for appointment.
The post of attorney general was previously occupied by Prof Zacchaeus Adangor (SAN), a Wike’s loyalist, who felt slighted and resigned from the cabinet after Fubara redeployed him from the office of the attorney general to another ministry.
Fubara, during the swearing-in, said he was bringing in Iboroma as the new attorney general at a critical time when there were lots of legal matters that needed to be tackled, with bravery and courage.
Fubara, “So, my brother, Dagogo Iboroma, you are going to be the brand new attorney general of our dear state. The Secretary to State Government, gave him his letter. He is the attorney general.
“Why are we bringing you at this very critical time? We have a lot of issues around us. We believe that you are not going to be the one that when they send service to you, you go and file ‘nolle prosequi’ or you go and file one thing that would kill us here.
“Let me also say this, you have a big task. In the local parlance, they say the jungle has matured. We will be setting up a judicial panel of inquiry to investigate the affairs of governance. So, brace up, I am not going back on it.
“Please, defend us. We know that you are going to defend us because your record is clean. You are a gentleman and peaceful. You are not a noise maker. People like you are endowed, and they have the fear of God.”
Fubara said he thought the political crisis he considered as a problem within a family would have been resolved, but regretted that there had been no headway.
At the moment, in the heat of the political crisis between Wike and Fubara, the state House of Assembly has been split into two, with faction with 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike, while the second faction with three members are loyal to Fubara.
Fubara said though the crisis was unfortunate, his administration had moved forward with what he termed a well-constituted state House of Assembly to discharge legislative duties, and a seasoned lawyer appointed as the Attorney-General of the state.
“I am happy that this is happening today to mark the beginning of a new era in our administration.
Knowing that we are all related to one another is the reason I mentioned earlier that I was being patient. No matter how serious the issue, it should be settled peacefully if we have one.
