The Ijaw National Congress (INC) Worldwide has urged President Bola Tinubu to pay close attention to political developments in Rivers to avert a breakdown of law and order.

The INC’s president, Benjamin Okaba, in a statement on Monday in Abuja, said the political tension in Rivers could breach public peace and threaten democracy.

Governor Siminalayi Fubara and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike have been at loggerheads over the political soul of the state.

“The INC believes that the issues we are dealing with in Rivers are far beyond political godfatherism, but that of desperation for state capture by all means and at all cost.

“The extent to which some of the dramatis personae are going with their self-seeking adventurous activities is quite worrisome as it appears that they do not care if democracy is truncated in Nigeria.

“Local Government elections are not new in Nigeria. Indeed, it is a constitutional requirement that falls within the legislative purview of the states,’’ he said.

He said three states in Nigeria, Akwa-Ibom, Benue and Jigawa, conducted local government elections at the same time as Rivers, with less rancour.

“It bears questioning why the elections in Rivers attracted such desperation and attention to the extent that the courts and the Nigerian Police became over-interested participants in the drama,” the INC president said.

Mr Okaba further said INC could not comprehend how a Federal High Court would restrain the police from performing their constitutional responsibilities.

“Since elections are periodic exercises, we advise those that disagree with Governor Sim Fubara to wait for the next elections.

“Let everyone be reminded that a similar situation in the defunct South-Western Nigeria between Obafemi Awolowo and Ladoke Akintola led to the truncating of Nigeria’s first republic. History can brutally repeat itself if people refuse to learn,” Mr Okaba also said.

(NAN)