Go Home Quietly, Avoid Being Used As Tools To Perpetuate Crisis, Eze Tells Ex-LG Chairmen

Former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP) and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has admonished the former 23 Local Government Council Chairmen in Rivers State whose term of office ended Monday, June 17, 2024, not to allow themselves to be used as tools to perpetuate the political crisis in the state by hiding under whatever illegitimate guise to claim tenure elongation beyond the

In a statement made available to the media, the APC Chief stated that reports from reliable sources have revealed covert plots by the FCT Minister’s camp to use the former Council Chairmen to perpetrate an offshoot of the crisis caused by the controversy over the status of the politically stranded 27 former Rivers lawmakers loyal to him.

The plot, according to Eze, was sealed over the weekend in the FCT Minister’s country home in Rumuepirikom, Port Harcourt, where each of the former chairmen was given a script to play beginning June 18, a day after the due date for their exit, in a bid to prolong hostilities, reduce the state to a theatre of war, and cause disruption to the state’s seamless administration by the Governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara, and his team.

For example, in Emohua Local Government Area, the former Council Chairman, Hon. Chidi Lloyd, a Lawyer with a Ph.D in Law, who, as expected, should be displaying the highest level of civility in the situation, issued a press statement inviting people from different wards to gather at the Council Headquarters for what he termed an empowerment programme in which he plans to distribute machetes/cutlasses to troublemakers to disturb the peace of the state from the local government.

Similarly, former Council Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Mr Samuel Nwanosike, a Ph.D. holder, has turned the council into a playground for hoodlums who have been recruited to keep watch and invade and devour any foreign body alien to their circle under the guise of funfair.

Eze stated that angry youths have taken over entrances to the council secretariats in Degema, Asari-Toru, Obio-Akpor, Eleme, Oyigbo, and Port Harcourt City local government areas, respectively, warning the former Chairmen and their band of troublemakers to stay away and strictly adhere to the Governor’s directives in his broadcast regarding the transition of the state’s local government administration.

Recall that in a statewide broadcast early Tuesday morning, Gov. Fubara directed Heads of Local Government Administration to assume responsibility for administering the 23 local council areas pending further instructions on the matter. This, according to Eze, is to avoid any void left by the departure of the former Council Chairmen and Councillors when their terms expired on Monday, June 17.

Prior to this, the APC Chief stated that there had been widespread reports of looting of Council properties ranging from vehicles to electronics to computers and furniture and fittings by various council chairmen and their appointees, who then decided to racket the various secretariats to make administration difficult for the incoming interim management team, which is expected to be announced soon.

Chief Eze urged the people of Emohua Local Government Area to refuse being enlisted into any criminal cartel by Chidi Lloyd, who is hellbent on causing chaos in the local government as part of the script handed to him by Nyesom Wike.

He urged all outgoing Chairmen to return home to their families peacefully and understand that power is fleeting in order to avoid being used as vandals’ dogs by Wike to soil their reputations and destroy their legacies in their respective local government areas in pursuit of his selfish personal goals.