Rivers crisis: Why I was loyal to Wike while working for Fubara – Ex-Attorney-General, Adangor

A former Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof Zacchaeus Adangor, has said he never applied to work for Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

He said he was only invited to serve under the governor, adding that even after his first resignation on 14th of November, he never wanted to come back but was made to do so by President Bola Tinubu.

He went on to accuse Governor Fubara of fueling the political crisis rocking the state.

He said the governor, through his recent actions, has shown he is not committed to reconciling with his predecessor, Nyesom Wike.

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A visibly angry Adangor spoke during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Thursday.

The last few days have witnessed a new turn in the Rivers State political crisis with the election of a new Speaker of the House of Assembly by very few lawmakers loyal to the governor.

This was after Governor Fubara declared the Peace Accord by President Bola Tinubu unconstitutional, insisting that the 27 Assembly members who decamped to the All Progressives Congress, APC, from the Peoples Democratic Party, were impostors and do not exist.

“He (Fubara) is not the person people think he is, he is not a peacemaker,” a furious Adangor said.

Adangor, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said he resigned from Fubara’s cabinet in April because he refused to obey the governor when he allegedly asked him to institute suits to challenge the validity of the Presidential Peace Pact by President Bola Tinubu on the feud between Fubara and Wike.

The ex-commissioner said his ordeal with the governor started on December 18, 2023, after the Presidential Peace Pact in Abuja.

He said the governor did not consult him before he was redeployed from the justice ministry to the Ministry of Special Duties.

Adangor said his redeployment by Fubara was a consequence of his stance on the rule of law. He said he found his redeployment absurd, hence his resignation.

The former justice commissioner said it was misleading that Fubara claimed that he sabotaged his administration while in office as attorney general.

Adangor said, “Politically, I am loyal to Wike, there is no doubt about that. I wouldn’t know whether he was angered by that or not.

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“But as far as I remember, he (Fubara) was angry that I insisted on conducting a matter in accordance with the understanding of the law.”

Asked whether it was not a form of disloyalty that he was loyal to Wike when he worked for Fubara, the former attorney general said, “I never applied to work for Governor Fubara; I was invited to serve under him. Even after my first resignation on 14th of November, I never wanted to come back as a person but the President asked us to go back.

“I will give you two instances to show that he (Fubara) is not the person people think he is, he is not a peacemaker.

“I have been on leave of absence from Rivers State University, that’s my place of primary assignment. When I resigned on the 24th of April 2024, Fubara thought I would return to the university, but I am aware that he had directed the management of the university not to allow me return to the university.

“That cannot be a decision taken by a person of peaceful disposition.”

He said the governor refused to sign the warrant of establishment of a customary court in his local community to “punish” him.