Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his predecessor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, exchanged pleasantries on Tuesday, October 31, at the State House, Abuja.
Fubara and Wike are attending a meeting of the Police Council, which is chaired by the president and has the 36 governors, the Minister of the FCT, the chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) as members.
Fubara and Wike, who are at the heart of the political crisis that blew open in the capital of Rivers state, Port Harcourt, on Monday, October 30, were seen outside the Council Chambers of the State House, shaking hands.
Some of the governors, including Wike and the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, were sighted as they engaged in an aside discussion while others engaged in exchanging banters.
In the ensuing development, Wike later proceeded to shake hands and briefly exchange pleasantries with Governor Fubara after he had disengaged from the NSA.
It is the first time the Rivers State governor (decked in a white Kaftan) and his estranged godfather, Wike (also spotted in a white kaftan) met face to face since the beginning of the reported spat between them.
The political atmosphere in Port Harcourt suddenly turned chaotic on Monday when the State House of Assembly, split between the governor and his predecessor, with both sides making counter moves.
While the Wike group sacked the Leader of the House, Edison Ehie and later served a notice of impeachment on Governor Fubara, the governor’s loyalist in the House in turn sacked the Speaker, Martins Amaewhule, and replaced him with Ehie as the new speaker.
Leaders of thought in Rivers State across ethnic and political divides have however called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the crisis in order to forestall a total breakdown of law and order in the state.
The security operatives around while both men were exchanging pleasantries could however not allow journalists to capture the moment in pictures, moving or still.
The Police Council is meeting to confirm the appointment of Kayode Egbetokun as substantive Inspector-General of Police.
According to the web search results, the last time the Nigeria Police Council met was on June 4, 2021, when President Muhammadu Buhari presided over the meeting of the council at the State House.
Some of the state governors sighted and headed to attend today’s event are Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Dapo Abiodun- (Ogun), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Abdullahi Abba (Kano), Bassey Ottu (Cross River), among others.
