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The Ijaw National Congress (INC) has warned that Friday’s Supreme Court judgment on the Rivers State crisis can lead to widespread instability in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
In a statement on Monday, INC President Benjamin Okaba warned that any attempt to undermine Governor Siminalayi Fubara would have dire consequences for national peace and economic stability.
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Mr Okaba was reacting to the court judgment that voided last year’s local government election in Rivers and restored the pro-Wike lawmakers as legitimate members of the Rivers House of Assembly.
The 27 lawmakers have been antagonistic towards Mr Fubara after the governor fell out with his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who is now the FCT minister.
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Mr Fubara had presented the 2025 budget to a three-member assembly loyal to him, but the Supreme Court ordered the governor to present the budget to the pro-Wike lawmakers.
In their plenary on Monday, the first after the court judgment, the pro-Wike lawmakers gave Mr Fubara a 48-hour ultimatum to present the budget to them.
Perceiving a renewed confrontation between the pro-Wike lawmakers and Governor Fubara, whom the Mr Wike allies attempted to impeach in 2023, the INC defended the governor.
Mr Fubara hails from Opobo Nkoro, one of the Ijaw local government areas.
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The group said that “the Ijaw people will defend Governor Fubara with every pint of blood in their veins”, stressing that they would not stand by and allow their long-awaited tenure to be truncated.
Don’t treat Rivers crisis as ordinary politicking, INC tells Tinubu
The group said the Rivers crisis is expected to escalate. It urged President Bola Tinubu not to treat the crisis as ordinary politicking, adding that it would not tolerate attempts to undermine their place in Nigerian politics.
Mr Okaba said that INC enjoins Governor Fubara to, in the spirit of sportsmanship, work with all duly constituted arms of government in the state but warned that if Governor Fubara’s tenure is truncated by the Amaewhule-led Assembly or anybody else, the INC cannot guarantee the sustenance of the current peace in the Niger Delta, nor the continued rise in oil production.
