A foremost Niger Delta activist, Ann Kio-Briggs has described the judgement on the political crisis rocking Rivers State by the Supreme Court as a plot for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to take over the state.
Kio-Briggs, in a Facebook post on Saturday, said the Supreme Court judgement is unacceptable by the people of Rivers State, noting that it is politically motivated and aimed at saving the political career of an individual who would deliver the state to his backers.
She also accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of disrespecting Governor Siminialayi Fubara and the people of Rivers, wondering if the president thinks that Rivers would accept the same treatment that Tinubu and Lagos State rejected under President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The Niger Delta activist noted that those who see the gentle nature of the governor as weakness are highly decieved, stressing that the plot to destabilize Rivers State will come to an end sooner than later, adding that no amount of evil and wickedness will make Fubara to be removed as governor.
She said: “In my opinion, this is purely a political judgement to handover Rivers State to APC in the middle of the peaceful tenure of the peaceful tenure of a quite peaceful Governor.
“This judgment is an attempt to save the political career of one person and hand over Rivers State and our resources to a political party and a group of people. This remains unacceptable to the majority of people of Rivers state.
“After much thinking and discussions, it is clear that some in the Judiciary have become members of APC ruling Federal Government. It is shameful. Some members of the Apex Court will continue to do this after its landmark judgement “against Obasanjo regime in favour of Governor Tinubu of Lagos”
“My question to President Tinubu as a daughter and defender of mine and my people’s political, development and security rights is this – why must he continue to disrespect the people and Governor Fubara of Rivers State?
“Why must President Tinubu continue to imagine that what he and the people of Lagos refused to accept as Governor from President Obasanjo will be accepted by the majority of the people of Rivers state?
“This connivance between APC in and out of Niger Delta will be unacceptable to its logical conclusion. Kalabari people say,
“Minji ani sese kiri ane ani sebariye,, Meaning “Water will always stand where Water is meant to stand”.
Kio-Briggs added: “Until the issue of if the 27 member of Rivers state “then” house of Rivers state Assembly members who defected from PDP to APC in 2023 are still members of Rivers State House of Assembly members is resolved by a court of Law, threats to destabilise Rivers State, Niger Delta and the Economy of Nigeria is just that, a threat.
“The majority of Rivers State Ethnic Nationalities are united in the defence of our beloved state. Our enemies will not control or own the governance and resources of our Rivers State.
“I will continue to draw the attention of President Tinubu to the fact that while he is the President of Nigeria for the next 2 years, he should not believe the handful of people who continue to deceive him that his government can own Rivers State. Rivers State belongs to Rivers people, and we hear only our voices. Lagos state can be owned by him politically, but not Rivers State.”
