Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

A former President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, Udengs Eradiri, has applauded the suspended Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, for his reconciliation with the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and the 27 House of Assembly members.

This  is just as  women group under the aegis of Rivers Women Unite for SIM, noted that peace must be genuinely sustained to rejuvenate the state, urging all parties in the crisis to embrace unity of purpose.

Eradiri, a former Labour Party (LP) Governorship Candidate in Bayelsa State, hailed Fubara’s decision to return to the political family of the FCT Minister, Chief  Wike, describing the new deal as a requirement for the peace and development of Rivers.

The former IYC president said Fubara’s boldness and determination to obey the new peace deal was another step in the right direction.

He recalled that he had continually advised the suspended governor to toe the path of genuine and sincere reconciliation by returning to his political father and reaching out to all the stakeholders he offended during the crisis.

Eradiri advised Fubara to stay away from crisis merchants including people he described as selfish individuals, who professed fake love to him, but were responsible in pulling all the stunts destabilising Rivers.

He said: “These crisis merchants are not tired yet. They will still devise some dubious strategies to reach you with their fake love and selfish advice to stampede you into derailing the new accord. Keep them far away from you and avoid making any contact with them.”

Eradiri further told Fubara not to succumb to any temptation that would make him walk away from the new peace deal, insisting that doing so would rubbish his personality and throw Rivers into another round of crisis.

“I advise Fubara to cherish this new path to peace and avoid entertaining any thought or idea that walking away from the accord  will yield a better result. Any attempt to resort to such reasoning will only bring dangerous consequences,” he said.

 Eradiri further advised the suspended governor to prevail on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors to withdraw the Supreme Court’s matter they instituted against President Bola Tinubu over the  emergency rule in Rivers.

Eradiri thanked President Tinubu for brokering the fresh peace in Rivers and all his continuous roles to protect the state from descending into the abyss of violence insisting that the President’s action was borne out of his true love for the state.

He appealed to the FCT minister to keep Fubara close to him and away from “deceptive politicians lurking around to capitalize on his political naivety to sow a fresh seed of discord”.

Eradiri further hailed the suspended Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martins Amaewhule, and other Rivers lawmakers and stakeholders including the state’s elders for facilitating the peace process.

Meanwhile, women group under the aegis of Rivers Women Unite for SIM, said peace must be genuinely sustained to rejuvenate the State, urging all parties in the crisis to embrace unity of purpose.

The women gave the advice yesterday, in a statement at the end of their Thanksgiving service held in Port Harcourt.

In the statement signed by Christy Glory Sunday and Belema Oningiye, at the end of the event, the women  commended the commitment of the parties to embracing peace and total reconciliation, expecting a complete and speedy resolution of all disputes in the interest of the state.

The women called on Rivers people to remain steadfast and to jettison every form of negative tendencies and ill-feelings towards the reconciliation and resolution as mediated by the president.

“We are confident in the process and believe that it will bring lasting peace as one united family and one people with a shared vision of advancing our state.”

“It is our hope that we all adopt the time-tested principle of ‘no-victor-no-vanquished’ to enable us move forward. Therefore, we must leave all that has transpired in the past to history and be more hopeful of the future by uniting as a people driven more by the interest of developing and moving our State forward.”

The group assured the people that they would continue to pray, ardently supporting the peace process and the resolution of every impasse.

They further commended: “Mr President for being a listening father and playing the fatherly role to facilitate the speedy resolution of the political impasse in our State. We are certain that in no distant time he will lift the emergency rule and restore all democratic institutions in the state.”

We are also grateful to our leaders and stakeholders, especially Gov. Fubara, the FCT Minister, Chief Nyesom Wike and members of the State House of Assembly for taking deep reflection on the issues and coming together to resolve their differences in the interest of the State and the people,” they added.

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