Fubara had opted to resign over rift with Wike, says Niger Delta leader, Sara-Igbe

A former spokesperson for the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Anabs Sara-Igbe, on Saturday said Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State wanted to resign from his position due to the face-off with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike.

Sara-Igbe said the intervention of some chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stopped Fubara from resigning.

The National Coordinator, South-South Leadership Forum, said Fubara was not fully in control of Rivers State funds.

Speaking with Channels Television, Sara-Igbe said the governor is having difficulties running the state.

According to Sara-Igbe: “The money coming from the Federation Account, Wike tied the money to one project or the other.

“So, when the money comes, it goes to the banks and they collect theirs from it and pay the contractors.

“Of course, we didn’t even know the cost of the contracts, so when this governor felt, ‘how will I run a government when I don’t have the resources’, the minister became hostile to the governor and the governor said ‘okay, let me resign if that is the case’. The PDP elders prevailed on him not to resign, thinking it would be messy.”

Wike and Fubara have been at loggerheads, which has plunged the state into crisis.

Twenty-seven lawmakers in the state had dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for the All Progressives Congress, (APC), due to the rift.