Rivers State Governor, Siminialayi Fubara, has posited that the explosion near Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt was a deliberate act aimed at creating a false narrative of heightened insecurity in the State.
Fubara spoke on Wednesday when he received a delegation of the senate committee on privatisation and commercialisation at the government house in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
The delegation was led by Orji Uzoh Kalu, Chairman of the Committee.
On Tuesday, an explosion occurred during a protest march by some political leaders in support of the police operatives occupying the 23 Rivers Local Government Area (LGA) secretariats.
Police operatives have been occupying the LGA headquarters following the crisis that ensued over the tenure of elected chairpersons.
The Governor however clarified that he is not fighting anybody, but that he is defending the State against predators, and protecting supporters of the interest of Rivers State against those who feel that they own the life of others.
He insisted that the failed attempt to detonate the explosive device at the five-star hotel, was a deliberate ploy to strengthen the call for a state of emergency by haters who want to undermine the State to achieve their evil plans.
“As a matter of fact, let me tell you, I know everything that is happening. Yesterday (Tuesday), they (the protesters) were aware that you were in the State.
“So, there was an attempt to create a serious problem. In fact, there was a plan to detonate dynamite at the Hotel Presidential because you people were there.
“But this God that we serve, it happened that the man who was trying to do it detonated it, but just a few seconds after, it blew his hands off.
“The idea was that as you were hearing the state of emergency, it would be so that by the time they finish when you return to have your sitting tomorrow (Thursday), the debate will be from somebody from this state who called you people to tell you not to come.
“He will now raise the issue of a state of emergency and say, after all, distinguished colleagues saw it happen while they were in Rivers State, that they saw what happened,” Fubara was quoted in a statement by Nelson Chukwudi, his Chief Press Secretary.
Fubara said there is nowhere in the country where tenure elongation for elected LGA chairpersons has been an issue.
“But you see, when you are with God, even your child who is planning evil, will go and tell somebody that, God is with this man because he is clean, this is what my father is planning. That is what is keeping us in this State,” he added.
He wondered why the law seems silent or inactive to take its course over offenders because somebody appears to be bigger than the law.
