The President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Worldwide, Alaye Tari Theophilus, has explained why members of the Rivers State House of Assembly are allegedly determined to undermine Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Friday, Theophilus claimed that the lawmakers were seeking access to the state’s treasury, a move he said Governor Fubara refused to allow.
He said, “The central issue in the recent Rivers crisis is Governor Fubara’s refusal to grant Assembly members unrestricted access to state funds.
“They have rejected all peace initiatives proposed by the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, and others, insisting that the governor is too stingy and does not want them to benefit.
“Basically the youth council have taken a series of steps, including stakeholders, elders from those particular constituencies, to see how they can interface with these lawmakers in question.
“But the truth of the matter is that there has been a Nigerian system, or a moving pattern in the Nigerian democracy that Assembly members or legislators are now contractors, or they are businessmen, where they approach the governor outside their constituency project to be given allocations of the state treasury, where they can live flamboyant life.
“But today, we have a very prudent and people-oriented governor, and he’s telling them that, look, if it is Rivers treasury that you want, I can’t give it to you. But if it is true good governance that you want, then we can work together.
“So that is where the bone of contention lies. The Ijaw Youth Council want the Rivers treasury to be open for them so that they can dive down to take whatever that they want to take, as other Assembly members, in other administrations have been doing.
“But today we have a project governor who has said that no, these funds in question are for Rivers people and is meant for infrastructural development, human capital, development and good governance.”
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