By Ismaila Jimoh, Abuja
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, has advised an Afenifere Chieftain, Dr. Femi Okurounmu to avoid getting involved in a matter capable of ridiculing his status as an elder statesman, especially on issues which he would not speak objectively for obvious reasons.
Okurounmu had accused President Bola Tinubu of being laid-back on the ongoing crisis in Rivers State, he also accused the FCT Minister of being the architect and mastermind of the political crisis in the State.
Reacting to Okurounmu’s statement on Tuesday in Abuja, Olayinka asked ” what exactly Does Baba Femi Okurounmu expect President Tinubu to have done? Overrule the various judicial pronouncements and join Governor Fubara in his reign of lawlessnes?
Olayinka said it was strange that Dr Okurounmu, a former Senator could opt to be playing ostrich to the avalanche of disobedience to court judgements by the Governor of Rivers State, Sim Fubara, and the danger such affront on the judiciary posed to democracy and peace in the country.
“One is however not too amazed because he (Okurounmu) holds the record of being the first Senator to be suspended by his colleagues out of the seven Senators that have been suspended since 1999 till date,” Olayinka said.
He said; “In Yorubaland, when two children are fighting, what the elders do is to sit them down and listen to their sides of the conflict. Elders don’t just sit in their bedrooms and apportion blames as done by Baba Femi Okurounmu.
“Was it Wike that went to the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex and set it on fire so as to prevent duly elected lawmakers from carrying out their duties?
“Was it Wike that has been illegally using three members out of the 32-member State House of Assembly to carry out legislative business in Rivers State, including passing the State Budget as well as screening and confirming commissioners, when the constitution says that budget can only be passed by two-third of the Assembly members?
“Hasn’t Governor Fubara been ignoring judgements of the courts concerning his regime of lawlessness in Rivers State? When the Court of Appeal in Abuja on October 10, 2024, affirmed a lower court’s decision nullifying the Rivers State’s 2024 budget signed into law and being operated by Governor Fubara, did the governor obey the judgement?
“And is it not shocking that Dr Okurounmu had chosen to ignore the danger Governor Fubara’s deliberate affronts on the rule of law pose to democracy and peace in Nigeria?”
END.
