A member of the Rivers State Elders Council, Asukewe Iko-Awaju, has said the resignation of Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor (SAN) and Isaac Kamalu from the cabinet of Governor Siminalayi Fubara shouldn’t affect the governor’s administration.
Iko-Awaju stated that while the former commissioners had the right to walk away from the cabinet, the Rivers people would not take that as an excuse for the administration’s failure.
“Resigning from the cabinet is not an excuse for failure.
“The governor should look for people that will help do the work. No one will take their resignation as an excuse for the governor not to perform,” Iko-Awaju told Arise News.
Both men, loyalists of ex-governor Nyesom Wike, who is currently embroiled in a political disagreement with Fubara, his estranged political godson, tendered their resignation about 24 hours after the governor reshuffled his cabinet and moved them to other ministries.
Adangor, who was the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, was redeployed to the Ministry of Special Duties (Governor’s Office), while, Kamalu was removed as Commissioner for Finance and moved to the Ministry of Employment Generation and Economic Empowerment.
While Adangor accused Fubara of ‘willful interference’ in his duties as justice commissioner, Kamalu faulted Fubara’s claims of N27bn monthly Internally Generated Revenue rise and expressed his unwillingness to work in an atmosphere of acrimony and bitterness.
Reacting to the new twist in the Rivers political crisis, Iko-Awaju described the resignation of the former commissioners as a distraction to the minister who he said should be preoccupied with his job at the FCT.
“If you are in Abuja today, you will see that the minister has started doing something good. These people should stop distracting him.
“He has moved from the state to the national level. Who knows what God has for him? However, drawing him back will make him lose focus,” he added
On the allegations by the former cabinet members against Fubara, the elder said the governor has the right to decide what he deems right for the Rivers people.