“Shaking Hands Won’t Clean Up Illegality in Rivers” – Former PDP Legal Chief

Mark Jacob, a former PDP national legal adviser, has stated that while Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Sim Fubara, the suspended governor of Rivers State, may have shown signs of reconciliation following their meeting with President Bola Tinubu, it is anti-democratic to suspend elected officials.
According to reports, late Thursday, Tinubu met at the Presidential Villa in Abuja with suspended members of the Rivers Assembly, Fubara, and Wike.
Three months after a contentious political crisis in the oil-producing state, Tinubu suspended Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and members of the Rivers Assembly. This is when the meeting took place.

Following the meeting, the suspended legislators, together with Wike and Fubara, were all grinning broadly.

They have reached an agreement to “work together with the governor, and the governor has also agreed to work with all of us,” Wike told reporters after they had settled their disputes.
He went on to say, “We belong to the same political family. Yes, we all have disagreements like everyone else, but you also have time to work them out, and that was finally resolved today…” As agreed upon, we have come to report this to Mr. President.

But in an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday, the former PDP legal adviser said that the reconciliation does not negate the reality that there was an aberration in Rivers State.

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Furthermore, Jacob said he would not be shocked if Fubara joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), citing recent defections to the party.

“I will not be surprised if Siminalayi agrees if they offer him a carrot and tell him to come over to APC so that he can reclaim his seat,” he stated, adding that it is all about me. How can I benefit?

Even if they are grinning and shaking their hands, River State is still subject to illegality, which is an anomaly that shouldn’t have occurred in the first place.

For me, it’s still drama, and we’ll have to wait a few days to see what happens, but it’s awful that it happened at all.

It should never be possible for a democratically elected president to subvert democracy. It shouldn’t occur, especially in Nigeria.