Wike’s Aide Cautions Okurounmu over Comments on Fubara, FCT Minister’s Feud

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media to FCT Minister, Lere Olayinka has taken on Afenifere Chieftain, Dr Femi Okurounmu over his alleged lopsided position on the Rivers State crisis between Governor Sim Fubara and Nyesom Wike.
Olayinka stated this in a statement yesterday while reacting to  Okurounmu’s statement, accusing President Bola Tinubu of being laid-back on the ongoing crisis in Rivers State.
He advised Okurounmu not to be involved in matters capable of ridiculing his status as an elder statesman, especially matters on which he would not speak objectively for obvious reasons.
Wike’s spokesman said it would be out of order for Okurounmu to expect the president overrule the various judicial pronouncements and join Fubara in his ‘reign of lawlessness’.
He described as strange that Okurounmu, a former Senator, could play the ostrich to the alleged avalanche of disobedience to court judgements by Fubara, and the danger such affront on the judiciary poses 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.
Okurounmu had accused the FCT minister of being the architect and mastermind of the Rivers crisis, saying, “even if Governor Sim Fubara is his godson, Wike should be told that he cannot be his surrogate as a sitting governor with full powers.”
Olayinka also denied that Wike wanted Fubara to be his surrogate, and not function as the governor of Rivers State, urging him, as an elder to be honest enough and ask himself the roles he played in Fubara becoming governor.
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?”
Olayinka described as concerning that Okurounmu chose to ignore the danger in Fubara’s alleged deliberate affront on the rule of law and what it  poses to democracy and peace in Nigeria.