A former Commissioner for Water Resources in Rivers State and a member of the Rivers State Elders and Leaders Forum, David Briggs, has said Governor Siminalayi Fubara was subtly threatened to accept the resolutions reached during a presidential intervention meeting to resolve the political crisis in the state.
He said the document Governor Fubara and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, signed was not a product of a peaceful agreement.
Briggs, who said he was present during President Tinubu’s intervention in the state’s crisis and witnessed what happened at the meeting with Governor Fubara, Wike and other Rivers stakeholders in attendance, said that President Tinubu merely walked into the meeting room with a resolution.
He said the President subsequently addressed them and said that what he had in his hand was a presidential directive and had subtly threatened that the directive of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should not be undermined.
The former commissioner revealed that contrary to the impression that an understanding was reached at the end of the meeting, the peace terms signed by Governor Fubara were already drafted and not fully read to the clear understanding of everyone at the meeting.
He said the opinions of the elders and other attendees were not sought.
Briggs, who made this disclosure in a no-holds-barred interview with Arise News Television on Thursday said that the discussions preceding the signing of the supposed peace agreement were laced with subtle threats and chest-beating.
Arise News Television quoted Briggs as saying, “I’m a participant in that purported meeting. I was there. We were invited to a meeting but that was not a meeting because a meeting means opinion will be sought.
“There will be discussion by both parties and opinions will be sought and resolutions will be reached.
“But the President walked in with a resolution, addressed us and said what he had in his hand was a presidential proclamation, a presidential directive and at the point, he emphasised that he was the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Therefore, we can weep and anybody who tends to say no to what he’s saying, has consequences. That is not democratic. That, in a simple layman’s word, is a threat.”
Speaking further, the former commissioner said, “He (Tinubu) wrote the resolution but refused to read the resolution, and handed the resolution to Doctor (Peter Odili) to read, but interjects him, and each time he interjects, it comes with a polite threat, and a smiling insult.
“Thereafter, he asked the governor to speak. Let’s get it clear; if you were the governor, what would you do? Get up and say, ‘Mr President, no?’ With that kind of subtle but energetic threat, realising that back home, we are fighting an internal aggression?
“If you are in his position, will you still attract another external fight? The answer is no,” he said, urging Tinubu to uphold the constitution.