Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State says it is the duty of traditional rulers, to join efforts with the government to ensure that persons involved in acts of economic sabotage are ejected from their communities.
He also advised traditional rulers to take charge of their domains and ensure there is stability and progress in the country. .
Fubara gave the charge while declaring open the 117th/118th Combined Quarterly General Meeting of Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, at their Secretariat in Port Harcourt, on Monday.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Nelson Chukwudi.
According to him, everyone should support Nigeria to advance economically, adding that this could be possible with high production of crude oil, which is the mainstay of the national economy.
His words: “I want to see a different society from this hour. The Federal Government is doing everything to see that our crude oil production level increases. But every day, we are having issues of pipeline vandalism and all the associated problems.
“All these people carrying out these evil acts, they’re not coming from the moon, they live in our communities and we know them. I am charging this council to, as a first step, take charge of your communities.
“If there is any information that you need to share with us, kindly do. Overall, we need our country to progress. We need our country to be stable. We need our country to grow economically. It is through only one means: our oil production.”
He expressed delight and gratitude to God that the council remained in existence, despite the protracted political travail confronting the state and his administration.
Recall that the Governor sacked the Chairman of the council and paramount ruler of Emohua Local Government Area, Eze Ohna Chidi Awuse, for not putting his picture and that of his Deputy, Ngozi Odu, in the 2024 calendar and replaced him with Eze Chike Worlu Wodo.
Fubara, however, explained the reason for the appointment of a new chairman to steer the affairs of the traditional council.
He said, “There is nothing new that has happened. The immediate past chairman served out his tenure, and the tenure is usually a one-year duration.
“It is at the discretion of the governor to extend such tenure. I believe, from my assessment, there was no reason to extend it, but rather to bring in fresh blood that can bring the council together.
“And what we did, we did in good faith because our communities, our people are important to us. I want to commend the chairman who is barely three months in office for putting this meeting together; it shows leadership.”
