The Campaign for Democracy (CD) yesterday asked President Bola Tinubu to resolve the protracted crises in the Rivers State House of Assembly and the Senate.
In a statement, National President, Ifeanyi Odili, said the intervention was necessary to restore calm in Rivers and allow good governance to thrive. Odili said the dispute over the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan over the sitting arrangement in the Senate was an unnecessary distraction.
The group said: “We have watched the nation’s sphere of politics, particularly the complex and tumultuous landscape of political power, interests, and ideologies, with serious concern.
“The prevailing climate of opinion, sentiment, and ideology is such that it is capable of rocking the boat of Nigeria’s democracy, which we critically frowned on. “Interests, alliances, and rivalries within the political sphere are assuming a state of panic.
“Since the allegation of swapping of a seat in the Senate and the sexual harassment levelled against Godswill Akpabio by Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the real purpose of the Red Chamber has been jeopardised. “The Wike-Fubara crisis has taken away governance and peace from the people.
“The people have been completely robbed of the dividends of democracy, thereby rubbishing the reasons and purposes for going to the polls to elect who governs them.
“It is therefore indescribable and unimaginable that Wike and Fubara cannot bury whatever grudges they hold against themselves and sheath their swords in the interest of the people.
“We make bold to say that these political gladiators who are at each other’s neck do not know what it entailed to put this democratic principle in place, the reason for all the political misdemeanors.
“We therefore call on President Tinubu to, as a matter of urgent public importance, invite all warring politicians and settle whatever misunderstanding they have against themselves in the interest of democracy and good governance.”
It added: “We will no longer fold our hands and watch our nation coasting towards the lagoon, but we shall constructively engage the Federal Government and damn all its threats against people’s perspectives, opinions, or expressions that contradict, challenge, or question the dominant view, and authority of the Federal Government.”
