The Grassroots Democratic Initiative (GDI), a group that carries out political campaigns for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has faulted the reception that supporters of Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara accorded him at the Omagwa International Airport Omagwa.

The president-general of GDI, Bright Amaewhule, said Fubara should not have allowed such reception, arguing that the gathering of his supporters at the airport could cause division, rather than help solidify peace in the state. Thousands of Fubara’s supporters had stormed the airport to receive him a day after waiting for hours at the Government House, Port Harcourt only to later find out that he was out of the country.

The same supporters from the state’s 23 local government areas had headed to the airport the next day to welcome the governor back to work, following him to the Government House, Port Harcourt where the governor addressed them.

The reception at the airport was organized by Fubara loyalists, mainly former council chairmen who served in his administration before the Supreme Court judgement that annulled their election. But Amaewhule, a Wike loyalist, who became GDI boss during the second term of then Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, in a radio programme in Port Harcourt, said that Fubara supporters should have allowed him to head straight to the Government House without putting up any drama at the airport.

He added that it was the duty of the governor to reach out across to the people of the state irrespective of their leaning and talk to them, stressing that the governor of Rivers is not for a particular.