The Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, on Thursday said that he has emerged victorious in his battle against his opponents
He said he had turned the tide against his opponents, noting that he was still in office about to mark his first anniversary, contrary to the plan by his detractors.
Fubara spoke on Thursday amid the ranging feud between him and his predecessor and estranged political godfather, Nyesom Wike.
Last October, Fubara survived an impeachment plot by members of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to Wike.
As of Wednesday, nine members of his cabinet loyal to Wike had tendered their resignation and exited.
Addressing the national and state leadership of the Ijaw Youth Council on Thursday at the Government House in Port Harcourt, Fubara said he appreciated their support and the assurance that they were with him but said, “there is nothing to call on you for because we have already defeated them.”
The IYC leadership was on a solidarity walk to the Government House in Port Harcourt, to celebrate the Isaac Adaka Boro Day.
The solidarity walk was part of activities to celebrate the heroic exploits of the late Major Isaac Adaka Boro, 56 years after his death, which is observed on May 16, every year.
Boro, it will be recalled, formed the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, an armed militia with members consisting mainly of his fellow Ijaw ethnic group who declared the Niger Delta Republic on February 23, 1966, and fought with federal forces for 12 days before they were defeated.
After he was granted amnesty, he enlisted and was commissioned as a Major in the Nigerian Army, fought on the side of the Federal Government during the civil war but was killed under mysterious circumstances in active service in 1968 at Ogu (near Okrika) in Rivers State on May 9, 1968.
Speaking with the Ijaw youths, Fubara acknowledged the assurances of brotherly support from the council and urged the Ijaw Nation to key into the ongoing celebration of the liberation the state now enjoyed.
“I am happy that you’ve told me this morning that when I call on you, you will respond. But there is nothing to call on you for because we have already defeated them.
“By the special grace of God, what they thought that they would have done to us while we were celebrating our one year in office, they are the ones sleeping with their two eyes open. It shows that we have the blood. And what is that blood: it is the blood of action; less talk, more action,” Fubara said.
