The Rivers State Government has faulted the former Attorney-General of the State and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zaccheus Adangor’s, SAN, reason for his resignation from Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s cabinet.
Prof. Adangor resigned from the state executive council about three weeks ago after Governor Fubara redeployed him to the Ministry of Special Duties (Governors’ Office).
Adangor had in his letter of resignation where he rejected the assigned portfolio alleged that the governor was interfering with his duties as the Attorney-General of the State.
But the State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, in a statement in Port Harcourt on Friday expressed shock that Adangor while appearing on national television on Friday gave a different reason for his resignation which he described as an ‘afterthought and deliberate falsehood.’
Johnson stated, “Our attention has been drawn to the deliberate falsehood and apparent afterthought of the former Rivers State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice who resigned as Commissioner for Special Duties, Zacceheus Adangor, SAN in an interview on Channels TV -Politics Today- programme on Thursday.
“To wit; the reason for his resignation from the Rivers State Executive Council was that, the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, wanted him (Adangor, SAN), to institute a legal action against the contentious 8-point Presidential Proclamation on the political disagreement in the state by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, but that he ‘refused.’
“That claim by Zaccheus Adangor, SAN, to say the least, is a fallacy of the highest order.”
He added, “It is a clear fact that is already in the public domain that Mr Adangor SAN personally stated in his letter of resignation on Ministry of Justice letter headed paper dated 24th April 2024 upon his redeployment as Commissioner for Special Duties (Governor’s Office), wherein he said that he was not going to be reassigned, and added falsely that the Governor was interfering with his work.
“It is therefore so surprising that instead of clearing himself of the open declaration by His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, that he (Adangor, SAN), is a saboteur, the learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria has whimsically resorted to cheap blackmail and barefaced falsehood.”
He expressed dismay that rather than the former AG to come clean by responding to that weighty accusation against him to clear his name he resorted to an afterthought of twisting the facts, simply to divert attention.
He further said, “It is public knowledge that going by the governor’s antecedents, he cannot and will not and couldn’t have interfered with the work of the former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice nor instigate Prof. Adangor to initiate any legal process against the President for his intervention in the Rivers State political crisis orchestrated by those who are hell-bent on playing God in the state.
“This is because, we have the facts on why Prof. Zaccheus Adangor, SAN hastily resigned from the State Executive Council when it was discovered the type of person he is.
“Most shocking is that as a professor of law, Prof. Adangor used frivolously, the official letter headed paper of Ministry of Justice, which was not to be, to write his letter of resignation instead of his letter heading.
“We therefore use this medium to challenge Professor Zaccheus Adangor, SAN to come clean by telling Rivers people, and indeed the world the truth, the whole truth, and the only truth about his escapades.”
