By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Topmost traditional leader in Rivers State, Sergeant Chidi Awuse, complained bitterly over the manner governor Siminialayi Fubara for fires him from his position as chairman of the Traditional Rulers’ Council while he was gravely ill.
Recall on June 21, 2024, Fubara dismissed the monarch—who had been nominated by the previous governor, Nyesom Wike—from his role as Chairman of the Rivers Traditional Rulers Council.
The governor removed Awuse and installed Eze Chike Worlu Wodo as the Paramount Ruler of Apara Kingdom after accusing Awuse of being unstable in his chairmanship of the council under the current administration.
Following a confrontation between Governor Fubara and Wike, who is currently the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, over the leadership structure in the state, Eze Awuse was removed.
Speaking over the weekend, he bemoaned that he was in serious health in the hospital when his removal was revealed. Wike had brought a team of his political allies to his palace to celebrate his recovery from a crippling illness.
The monarch insisted that the governor had taken him out of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where he had spent six days and ten hours in a coma.
He said, “I was sacked from my seat the day I was in ICU. I was in a coma for 10 hours. I told him only (Wike) because everybody rejected me.
“The government I was serving rejected me.
“I am learning how to stand up because I was in ICU for six weeks with gadgets all over my body fed through my nose. And you (Fubara) told people when I was in ICU that I was a man of questionable character.
“You said Sergeant Awuse, I am not steady. That is one quality I don’t deserve. Call me any other name but I am a steady human being.”