River crisis: Coalition backs Fubara on probe of Wike’s administration

A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has declared support for the move by the Rivers State Governor, Mr Sim Fubara, to probe the immediate past administration in the state.

The coalition gave the backing on Wednesday at press conference addressed by its Convener, Comrade Declan Ihekaire, saying that probing the administration of former Governor Nyesom Wike would enable the state to recover stolen funds to support the governor’s developmental projects.

“We are in full support of Governor Fubara probing and investigating the immediate past administration in the state.

“Even though the governor was part of the administration but probing the Wike-led government is an indication that Fubara has the interest of the people at heart,” Ihekaire said.

Also speaking, the President of the Society for Open Justice in Nigeria, Comrade Oloyede Kadiri, raised an alarm over what he described as a clandestine move by a faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly to upturn an interim injunction by a Rivers State High Court, restraining the Martin Amaewhule-led faction from parading themselves as legislators.

Kadiri alleged that the former members of the State House of Assembly led by Martin Amaewhule had devised extra-legal means to upturn the Rivers State High Court ruling, saying that the faction had elected to throw caution into the wind. 

“The Martin Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly has elected to throw caution into the wind. 

“We have it on good authority of their efforts towards turning the law on its head through extra-judicial means. This indeed portends grave danger for democracy in Rivers State and Nigeria.

“This group of former lawmakers, with the backing of some forces in Abuja, have made overtures to the Justices of the Appeal Court to upturn the ruling of the Rivers State High Court restraining the 25 defendants from meeting/sitting at the auditorium of the House of Assembly Quarters or any other place whatsoever to purportedly carry out the legislative business of the Rivers State House of Assembly,” he said.

According to Kadiri, the attempt at compromising the justices of the Appeal Court is a coup against democracy, saying that those whose actions and inaction had contributed to the political impasse in Rivers State were enemies of democracy, even as he quickly warned that if such anomaly was allowed in Rivers State, it could happen in any state in the country, with the implication being the end of democracy or any semblance of democracy in Nigeria.

“The attempt at compromising the justices of the Appeal Court is a coup on democracy. Those whose actions and inaction have contributed to the political impasse in Rivers State are enemies of democracy. 

“If this anomaly is allowed in Rivers State, it can happen in any state in the country. The implication would be the end of democracy or any semblance of democracy in Nigeria,” he warned.

The group also warned the 25 former lawmakers to desist from political blackmail and other acts that had disrupted governance in the state, just it urged the Justices of the Appeal Court to resist the overtures to compromise and give a ruling in favour of the affected lawmakers. 

“The Society for Open Justice is calling in the Honourable Justices of the Appeal Court to resist all the overtures by some vested interest in the Rivers State debacle. We know the tremendous pressure from different quarters to obstruct justice.

“Their paymaster has boasted that he controls the judiciary, which remains an affront to our sensibilities as a people and a country. He has openly attacked the reputation of the judiciary in the country.

“We are confident that the Honourable Justices of the Appeal Court would resist their overtures and stand on the side of equity, justice and fairness. 

“Nigeria is not a banana republic where individuals ascribe to themselves the power to violate the rights and privileges of the people,” the group said.

It would be recalled that there has been a running battle for controlling the Rivers State House of Assembly, with 25 former lawmakers loyal to the former Governor Wike defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC), a development which has led to a litany of litigation. 

Justice CN Wali of the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt issued an interlocutory injunction, barring Speaker Martin Amaewhule and associated lawmakers from further sitting and parading themselves as members of the state House of Assembly, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.

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