A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Darlington Nwauju, has lamented what he described as a freeze in governance in Rivers State over the past five months.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP, Nwauju urged Governor Siminalayi Fubara to “pick up from where he left off in 2023” when he assumed office, noting that policy inconsistencies have stalled development.

 “I am a bit at a loss for a response because, as a Rivers man, I have completely lost interest in governance issues here, given the fact that governance has been frozen in the past five months,” he said.

“Governor Fubara will have to start from where he met the state in 2023. A lot of policy somersaults have occurred, which I even believe are anti-Rivers people. The easiest thing to do in governance, pay salaries, has become herculean under the military administrator. I really do not know where to start because the state has had its development frozen.”

Also speaking, political analyst Dr. Obinna Nwodim urged the governor not to allow the recent political crisis to dictate his approach to governance.

“In all fairness, I wouldn’t say that the average Rivers man has seen any tangible result from the government,” Nwodim stated. “They truncated what was ongoing because of contracts awarded by the suspended governor. There is a big difference between what is happening now and what would have happened if the democratic structure had remained in place.”

He expressed regret that development had slowed significantly during the period of emergency rule.

Similarly, public affairs analyst Obinwa Akanwa predicted that expectations from Fubara’s administration should remain low, arguing that the governor had been boxed into a political corner.