Gov Fubara is Rivers’ political leader, says Dr. Odili, restates support for Tinubu’s govt

Emmanuel Nlewedum, Port Harcourt

Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara has been declared as the political leader of Rivers State ahead of his godfather and predecessor.

Former Governor of the state, Dr. Peter Odili made the declaration on Thursday at the commissioning of a Primary Healthcare Centre donated by his PAMO Foundation in his country home, Ndoni, in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area.

Odili, who served as Governor between 1999 and 2007, said that Fubara, having secured his electoral victory through the ballot and the courts, is now the political leader of the state.

He urged Governor Fubara to act with this awareness that he is now the political leader of the state in all its decisions and praised him for defending the interests of the people.

Assessing Fubara’s performance, Odili commended him for making significant strides in critical sectors within his first year in office, particularly focusing on the well-being of the people.

He noted that Fubara’s administration is in alignment with President Bola Tinubư’s agenda, especially in the health sector, following the recent launch of the Primary Healthcare Fellows scheme by the Federal Government.

Odili encouraged the governor to maintain this alignment with the President and his policies to attract federal government attention and support to the state.

Speaking, Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, restated his administration’s support to President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government and his people-oriented policies that is aimed at improving the well-being of the people and providing critical social services to Nigerians.

Governor Fubara also emphasised that his Administration was determined to build an egalitarian society where people can freely voice their opinions, be bold to criticise his Government constructively to further advance good governance.

He said his administration will continue to prioritize the welfare and wellbeing of the people and for the betterment of the state by administering good governance, while promising provision of quality healthcare services in the state.

“We made a promise to Mr. President to support him, and we will continue to support him. How do we support him? It is to ensure that the welfare of our people is provided for. It is to ensure that our people, those in critical need, we make them happy in this harsh economic situation.

“If we cannot solve all the problems, at least, we will go as much as we can to mitigate those basic challenges. That is the only way to support Mr. President.”

The Governor said, “What we have today is different from what we met on assumption of office. We are giving hope to the people. We are not going to stop improving the health sector every day, by the special grace of God.

“We’ve gone further to improve our healthcare services by promising our people not just promising, but ensuring that we’ll see it through, that all the zonal hospitals must be put back to function.

“We have invited all the contractors that were awarded those jobs. We have asked them to return back to site so that those facilities will function to provide quality services to our people.

“The Secretary mentioned about employment. When we came on board, the number I saw allocated to you was 200. But I’ve given you 1,000 medical doctors. That will tell you that we place importance on efficient healthcare services for our State.”

The governor commended the PAMO Educational Foundation for undertaking the construction of such health facility as a private citizen deploying personal resources to give back to society describing the gesture as the best thing that has happened to the people, which is worthy of emulation, and urged members of the community to own the project by protecting it.