Rivers Commissioner resigns as Wike, Fubara’s rift deepens

Professor Zacchaeus Adangor has resigned as the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of Rivers State.

In his resignation letter dated December 14, 2023, Adangor told Governor Similanayi Fubara that he opted out of the cabinet on personal principle.

Adangor, who served in the immediate past administration of Nyesom Wike, Fubara’s predecessor, thanked the governor for considering him worthy to be appointed.

The cold war between Fubara and his estranged political godfather, assumed a dramatic dimension as the governor presented the 2024 Appropriation Bill to a four-member state assembly loyal to him, hours after demolishing the assembly complex, which the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers had been using.

The Assembly complex, which has been at the centre of contention between the two factions of the legislature, was demolished in the early hours of Wednesday.

The demolition of the complex was on the heels of an exparte order by a High Court in Port Harcourt which recognized Edison Ehie, the leader of the four-member state assembly loyal to the governor as the substantive speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

The governor’s budget presentation took place in a hall inside the Government House, which the government said has now been approved for temporary usage for the Assembly pending the reconstruction of the demolished complex.

The N800 billion budget proposal was tagged ‘Budget of Renewed Hope, Consolidation and Continuity’.

Amidst the uproar generated by the demolition exercise, the state government has said the decision to demolish and rebuild the Rivers State House of Assembly complex was due to the structural defects which arose mainly as a result of the recent explosion and fire incident which rendered the main building unfit for human use.

A statement issued by the Commissioner for Information, Joseph Johnson, stated that after the visit of the governor to inspect the level of damage done to the building on the day of the fire incident, it became necessary to invite professionals to advise the government on the integrity of the building.

“After the assessment of the integrity of the complex, the experts warned the government that to continue using the building in its present state would be disastrous,” he said.

He noted that the government had tried all cost-saving measures towards the repair of the complex until it bowed to the view of rebuilding the complex to a more befitting edifice.