Operate remotely if you can’t access council secretariats, Fubara tells new chairmen

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara has directed the recently sworn-in interim committee chairmen to conduct their activities remotely If attempts to enter council secretariats will jeopardise the peace in the state.

Governor Fubara told the acting chairmen that he did not want to be linked to violence. He advised them not to oppose the police who had taken over the council secretariats.

“Let me also advise that as you resume in your respective local governments, please I do not want any confrontation, it is not in my nature. It is not my style.

“Whatever happened yesterday (Tuesday) I know and the world knows it is not from you people.

“Some persons caused it. So let us not allow them to continue to make our state look bad in the comity of states. So if you go back, if there is any situation, I want you to be law-abiding. I don’t want any confrontation. You can operate from anywhere,” he said.

The state police command declared on Tuesday that it had taken control of the whole local council headquarters to stop more violence and maintain law and order.

A policeman and a member of a local security group were killed on Tuesday at Eberi-Omuma in the Omuma Local Government Area of the state during a fight between the governor’s supporters and those of his predecessor, Nyesom Wike.

Governor Fubara and his predecessor have been embroiled in an endless dispute. The situation deteriorated when some chairmen loyal to Wike were, on Tuesday, chased out of office by the governor’s supporters after their terms ended.