Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has bemoaned those who promote violence in the state, pledging to implement the report of the State Commission of Inquiry on the destruction of local government secretariats, no matter the culprit involved.
The governor reaffirmed his commitment to accountability and his belief that everyone is subject to the law, including himself.
This pledge was made by Governor Fubara at the Executive Chambers of Government House in Port Harcourt when the commission’s chairman, Justice Ibiwengi Minakiri, a current State High Court judge, presented the commission’s report.
The governor made emphasis on the urgent need to end what he described as “unreasonable violence in politics,” arguing that politics should be a competition of ideas without enduring friends or foes rather than being equated with violence.
He praised the commission for their perseverance in finishing the assignment, despite efforts to thwart their work, such as legal challenges and other forms of hindrance.
Governor Fubara expressed astonishment that those who made investments in constructing council complexes could thereafter ruin their own legacies and asked why anyone would reject a panel tasked with revealing the truth.
He used earlier occurrences to connect the perpetrators of the recent attacks on council facilities to violent crimes such as the bombing of courts prior to the 2015 elections.
Reiterating his stance on accountability, the governor affirmed that no one, including himself, is above the law.
The chairman of the seven-member commission, Justice Ibiwengi Minakiri, detailed the methodology used to compile the report. She noted that visits to affected local government areas—Khana, Eleme, Ikwerre, Emohua, and Obio/Akpor—were instrumental in verifying claims from submitted memoranda.
Justice Minakiri claims that the commission’s work uncovered information that had been concealed concerning the state and was completed on November 28—within the 30-day period that the governor had set.
The report, which is divided into four volumes, contains findings, exhibits, memoranda, and proceedings records. To guarantee enduring peace in the state, Justice Minakiri asked Governor Fubara to put the suggestions into effect.
According to her, some of the people named in the memoranda did not show up to defend themselves before the commission.
She ended by wishing that Rivers State would become more stable and that future acts of violence would be discouraged by the report’s adoption.
