*As Police Council meets to confirm Egbetokun as IGP
By Chesa Chesa
Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his predecessor, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, who are currently embroiled in battle of political wits over control of the State, met and exchanged pleasantries on Tuesday at the State House, Abuja.
Fubara and Wike were at the meeting of the Nigeria Police Council, which is chaired by the President, with the 36 State Governors, Minister of the FCT, Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) as members.
Fubara and Wike, who are at the heart of the political crisis that blew open in the capital of Rivers State, Port Harcourt, on Monday, were seen outside the Council Chambers of the State House, shaking hands.
It is the first time the Rivers State governor (decked in white Kaftan) and his estranged godfather, Wike (also spotted in a white kaftan) were meeting each other since the beginning of the reported face-off between them.
The political atmosphere in Port Harcourt suddenly turned chaotic on Monday when the State House of Assembly, split between the governor and his predecessor, with both sides making counter moves.
While the Wike group sacked the Majority Leader of the House, Edison Ehie and later served a notice of impeachment on Governor Fubara, the Governor’s loyalists in the House in turn sacked the Speaker, Martins Amaewhule, and replaced him with Ehie as new Speaker.
Leaders of thought in Rivers State across ethnic and political divides have however, called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the crisis in order to forestall a total breakdown of law and order in the State.
Meanwhile, the Police Council is meeting to confirm the appointment of the Kayode Egbetokun as substantive Inspector-General of Police.
Some of the State Governors sighted at the meeting included Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Dapo Abiodun- (Ogun), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Abdullahi Abba (Kano), Bassey Ottu (Cross River), among others.
