By Austen Akhagbeme

It came as a pleasant surprise to many, the way the hitherto smoking swords were put back into their ploughshares, anger dissipated and good or evil machinations abandoned by both parties in the ongoing political slugfest in Rivers state.

The peace which was brokered by President Tinubu after an earlier attempt, has helped to simmer down the turbulent ocean of mischief, hate, anger and political animosity brewing in the oil-rich state, or so it seems.

So many questions are popping up than answers in the aftermath of this brokered peace by President Tinubu.

On which legal ground or constitutional provision does the President stand to broker peace between his appointee and the erstwhile godson and executive governor of Rivers state, Sir Siminilayi Fubara?

Which among the eight points in the reconciliation document favours Fubara directly in the long run?

Where’s the guarantee that there will be sustainable peace between the state executive and the House of Assembly with 25 “unfriendly” members breathing down on the handful rest?

Why does everything look like one party is being rewarded and feared and another berated? What makes Fubara wrong and Wike right?

This type of undemocratic peace-making may make peace-building difficult in the long run, which could lead to another round of chaos. The road after the rift must be seen to be democratic, free and fair with no victors or vanquishers. And this is what the political solution offered by President Tinubu could have helped us to achieve.

It is this perceived lopsidedness of the eight-point resolution that brings in the displayed dissatisfaction of some ethnic chieftains like Chief Edwin Clark, who vehemently call for its rejection.

We must be careful not to slaughter justice on the altar of political expediency.

• Austen Akhagbeme is a Columnist with Blank NEWS Online, He writes from Abuja.