RIVERS CRISIS WAS NOT ORCHESTRATED BY FG, SAYS INFORMATION MINISTER

Babatunji Wusu –

Idris Malagi, Minister of Information and National Orientation, stressed that the political situation in Rivers State was not orchestrated by the federal government.

He made it clear that the participation of some members of President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet does not suggest that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government was involved in inciting the situation in the state during a live appearance on Thursday’s Sunrise Daily program on Channels Television.

“The fact that it is happening in Rivers does not mean that it is the Federal Government that is orchestrating the political crisis,” he said.

“I’ve not found evidence to say that it is the Federal Government that is engineering the crisis in Rivers State,” the minister stated, adding that “it is easy to speculate because some of the actors are people who associate with the government at the centre“.

Malagi brought up the fact that comparable political issues have emerged in other states, such Ondo, where the President has stepped in to mediate disputes—even when they include members of the same political party.

Notably, a disagreement between former governor Siminalayi Fubara and current Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike was the root cause of the crisis involving the 32 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Wike is employed by the APC-controlled administration even though he is a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.

About two months after a fire event badly damaged the Assembly Complex, the governor recently demolished it while there was increased security. The building’s structural integrity had been compromised, according to the state administration.