The Edo State governor, Monday Okpebholo, has distanced himself from the South-South Governors Forum’s position on the state of emergency in Rivers State.
The South-South Governors’ Forum had on Wednesday described as “condemnable,” President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in the oil-rich state.
However, Okpebholo in a statement issued on Thursday in Benin City by his Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua, said he was neither consulted nor informed about the position taken by the forum.
Okpebholo added that he recognised the right of other South-South governors to take a position on the matter.
But he distanced himself from any statement opposing President Tinubu’s decision on Rivers’s political imbroglio.
The governor said: “It is clear that President Bola Tinubu, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, understands the issues at stake.”
He expressed his full support for the president’s actions aimed at bringing lasting solution and peace to Rivers and the South-South zone.