Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State said he once knelt down to beg his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, to allow peace to reign.

However, he now believes it is time for Mr Wike to realise he cannot win every fight and to let go.

“There is nothing I have not done on this earth for peace to reign. I can tell you the number of times I have knelt to beg that let’s allow this issue to go. I have done everything,” Mr. Fubara said in an interview with Channels TV on Monday when asked what he has done to resolve the political feud between him and his one-time political godfather, Mr Wike.

When asked what message he would convey to Mr Wike, the incumbent FCT minister and his former political ally turned adversary, Mr Fubara said, “I’ll tell him (Wike) that it has gotten to a point where he needs to let go. We need peace in this state.”

He added, “You don’t necessarily need to win all the fights; at times, you just let go for the sake of the good people of Rivers State and the love that you have always professed for the state. We need to secure the state. Fubara will leave tomorrow. Who knows who is going to come? It might be through him or another person, but we need to secure the state.”

Lingering political hostility between Mr Fubara and Mr Wike took a messier trajectory as the state conducted local council elections over the weekend.

Despite the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the police withdrawing from the electoral process, Mr Fubara proceeded with the election on Saturday.

Mr Fubara raised concerns on Sunday evening, shortly before swearing in 23 newly elected local government chairpersons, warning that some disgruntled political actors were mobilising to undermine the state’s stability on Monday.

Bloody clashes erupted in at least four local government areas, with sections of buildings in Eleme, Ikwerre, and Emohua council premises set ablaze by thugs, while sporadic gunfire was reported in Ahoada East as a means of resisting the newly appointed council officials.

The attacks on local government secretariats followed the withdrawal of police officers assigned to secure the 23 council premises, as ordered by the commissioner of police.