The Nigeria Civil Service Union(NCSU) has thrown its weight behind the Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara over current events in the 23 local government areas in the State, following the expiration of the tenure of elected council chairmen and councillors on June 17, 2024.
It would be recalled that Governor Fubara had directed Heads of Local Administration to take charge of the councils, and subsequently announced the appointment of caretaker committees to run the affairs of the councils in the interim.But in a dramatic twist, the police barricaded the gates of the councils, thereby barring both the caretaker committees and workers from accessing the council secretariats.
Following this development, the NCSU said the actions taken by Governor Fubara to fill the void created by the expiration of the tenure of the former council chairmen and councillors were in order, since nature abhors a vacuum, and called on the police to vacate the council secretariats, without further delay.
The Rivers State Chairman of NCSU, Comrade Chukwuka Richman Osumah, who gave this indication in an interview in Port Harcourt, said Governor Fubara acted in good faith by not allowing a vacuum at the councils, and advised the former council chairmen and councillors to take the decision in good faith, since their tenure as elected officers of the councils had elapsed, as provided in the Constitution, in order to allow peace, law and order to prevail in the State.
Osumah noted that the former council chairmen in particular ought to have known, as people of good conscience, that they were not going to stay beyond one day in office after the expiration of their tenure, instead of banking on a non-existent extension of their tenure by the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly, saying the former council chairmen were supposed to be true democrats and not the other way round.
He further indicated that the former council chairmen had no moral justification for going to the council secretariats during a public holiday to challenge or contest the decision of the Governor, adding that those of them who visited the councils last Tuesday were supposed to be held responsible for any breakdown of law and order in some of the councils.
While suing for peace, Osumah said the people of the State should give Governor Fubara all the support he needs to weather the current political storm, in order to continue to pilot the affairs of the State unhindered, reiterating that the Governor is fully in charge of governance in the State  in spite of distractions.
The labour leader, however, regretted the recent loss of lives and property during clashes in Omuma Local Government Area, and called on all Rivers people, particularly the former council chairmen to give peace a chance.
While denouncing those calling for a state of emergency to be declared in the State, Osumah said such calls are made in bad faith by those who do not mean well for the State, insisting that the calls are unwarranted because the State has continued to enjoy unprecedented and unparalleled peace that has encouraged businesses and investments to thrive and flourish in the State, describing those making the calls as enemies of the State.
He said he was lending his voice to that of the organised labour in the State to call on the Inspector General of Police to immediately lift the siege placed on the local government secretariats across the State by ordering his men to vacate the councils without further delay, to enable council workers gain access to their duty posts.
He said the current siege on the councils by the police is an ill wind that does nobody any good, as it has effectively deprived the people the dividends of democracy which the Fubara administration has been providing to the people within the past one year, saying the governor needs all the support and concentration he could muster to continue to provide good governance to the people.
The labour leader urged civil servants in the State to continue to rally round Governor Fubara and his administration to continue with the good work of giving workers’ welfare top priority.
While commending Governor Fubara for the successful celebration of his one year in office, with commissioning and flag-off of numerous projects, Osumah noted that attempt to truncate the peace of the State by political gladiators is an attempt to truncate the opportunity and determination of the present administration to give governance a human face.
He also called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be wary of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike over the lingering political crisis in Rivers State, and call him to order, as he is remotely stoking the flame that is burning in the State.