News
Fubara to Rivers: Be calm! *’Dogs bark because they don’t understand’
Amid tension in Rivers State over a fresh move to impeach him, Siminalayi Fubara, the Governor, for the umpteenth time, sued for calm on Sunday, even while throwing jabs at the forces behind the plot, all but calling them “barking dogs.”
Smarting from the fresh crisis which blew into the open on Thursday, reechoing a similar onslaught that became public in October 2023, when he received the first impeachment notice, Fubara, said at a church service in Port Harcourt, the state capital on Sunday that he would not toe any other line outside his trust in God.
At the service held to mark the 2026 Armed Forces Remembrance Day, he assured the citizens that everything would be fine, explaining that his decision to remain silent in the face of distractions was deliberate, as he drew his strength from his faith in God.
Fubara, who invited Ngozi Odu, his deputy him to also speak to the audience, stated: “When we were marking the New Year dinner, I said something – dogs back when they don’t understand. Now, you see, a lot of you don’t understand.
“You see, the reason why I don’t shout or complain is because I know what I have. I know that I have what is supreme. And that is God. So, I want everyone to be relaxed. What is important is peace for this state and we’ll get it by the special name of God.”
Odu, on her own, while thanking the audience for attending the event, urged everyone to maintain good conduct, in line with the admonition of the Dean of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop Blessing Eyinda, who stressed during his sermon that every action would be remembered at one time or another.
She also appealed to the people to continue upholding the administration in prayer, describing such support as the pillar sustaining the government.
Last Thursday, the Rivers State House of Assembly commenced the proceedings, accusing the governor and Ngozi Odu, his deputy, of gross misconduct.
The lawmakers also accused the governor of spending without approval.
The move is the second time the lawmakers have attempted to impeach Fubara since he emerged as governor in 2023 following a feud between him and his predecessor and estranged godfather, Nyesom Wike, who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
In October 2023, the Assembly first initiated an impeachment proceeding against Fubara over allegations of gross misconduct.
However, the impeachment process was dropped shortly after President Bola Tinubu intervened in the political rift between Fubara and Wike at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
In December of that year, the lawmakers officially withdrew the impeachment notice against Governor Fubara following a peace deal signed by Fubara and Wike.
The peace deal later broke down, with the Rivers Assembly stripping Governor Fubara of the power to appoint caretaker committees for local government councils.
In March 2025, the assembly, for the second time, began an impeachment process against Governor Fubara and his Deputy, after serving a notice of alleged misconduct against them.
While the process was ongoing, President Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers on 18 March 2025 and suspended all elected officials in the state, including the governor, for six months.
Fubara only returned to the office in September of that year after the president declared an end to the emergency rule following a second peace deal brokered in June between Messrs Fubara and Wike alongside their supporters.
The second peace deal recently broke down with Wike accusing the governor of reneging on the terms of the latest agreement in the peace deal brokered by the president.
Fubara recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), apparently in the hope that he can receive political protection from the ruling party.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
-
News4 days agoBREAKING: Mystery death! *Female student dies a day after arriving Umahi’s home!
-
News4 weeks agoBREAKING: Troops rescue wife of kidnapped General! *Terrorists flee scene
-
News4 days agoDon’t jump to conclusion! *Umahi speaks on mysterious death of female students!
-
News4 weeks agoBREAKING: Count me out, Okonkwo tells Atiku *Amaechi VP’s choice an insult to Ndigbo
-
News3 weeks agoBREAKING: Court sentences Nigerien, two others to death over terrorism
-
News2 weeks agoBREAKING: EX-SSG mowed down by gunmen! *He resisted being kidnapped – driver
-
News3 weeks agoTwo hours after Igboho’s ‘red-eyes’ to ‘Fulani’ leaders, gunmen free kidnap victims!
-
News3 weeks agoAbductors of Oyo teachers panicking, freedom coming for victims soon!