Rivers: Back to the tinderbox

The rapproachement facilitated by President Bola Tinubu between Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, appears snapped, going by events in the last few weeks, writes AMAECHI OKONKWO.

Over two months after the two warring factions in the Rivers State political crisis signed an eight-point presidential peace proclamation facilitated by President Bola Tinubu over  the imbroglio between the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike and his now estranged political son and governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, peace remains an illusion in the state. This is because despite willingly and wholeheartedly endorsing the peace proclamation, the factions are yet to fully comply with the letters of the deal but are rather exploring and exploiting avenues of gaining mastery in the contest.

Only a few points of the proclamation have been complied with by the parties in the agreement. These include the withdrawal of the impeachment notice on the governor, the release of funds to the state House of Assembly and non-interference with their sittings and the reappointment of the eight commissioners, who resigned their membership of the State Executive Council (SEC) of the Fubara administration.

Even with the signing of the peace accord and continued insistence of commitment to it, both sides have sustained the war on many fronts, with each side seeking opportunities to outdo the other, deploying several gimmicks known and unimaginable in political game books. For example, the faction of the minister returned with the 27 members of the state assembly,  who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the APC Caretaker Committee headed by Chief Tony Okocha among others, with an alleged resolve to make life unbearable for the governor and his team. They have tried to capitalise on their dominance of the house to frustrate every move of the governor, deploying new and amended legislations in the state to arm twist the governor and probably frustrate him to resign, seeing that impeachment option is more far-fetched and tedious.

For instance, the assembly has, in the last two months, dusted up and amended several edicts and passed many other fresh ones, all intended ostensibly to counter and frustrate the smooth administration of Rivers by the governor. The latest of such laws is the amendment, two weeks ago at its 120th legislative sitting of the Rivers State Local Government Law No. 5 of 2018 and other matters connected thereto.

In his contribution to the bill, Speaker, Honourable Martin Amaewhule, asserted that the intention was to amend section 9(2), (3) and (4) of the principal law to empower the House via resolution to extend the tenure of elected chairmen and councillors, where it is considered impracticable to hold local government elections before the expiration of their three years in office. Amaewhule stated that the amendment is to ensure that local government elections were conducted before the expiration of the current local government administration.

The speaker said: “Upon the expiration of the tenure of the outgoing local government administration, the governor shall swear in the newly elected chairmen and vice chairmen of the councils, but where the governor is unable or fails to perform the duty, the house shall, by resolution, mandate judicial officers or magistrates to perform the task,” stressing that the progressive intendment of the bill could not be over-emphasised.

However, much as the bill has been generating reactions from different quarters, for and against, some discerning observers claim that the move is to ensure that Governor Fubara does not have any opportunity to appoint caretaker committees for the local government councils at the expiration of the three-year term of the local government executives in June 2024.

Before amendment, the house had not only passed but also bypassed the governor on the amendment of four other laws: The Rivers Local Government Amendment Law; The Rivers State Traditional Rulers Amendment Law; The Rivers State Advertisement and Use of State Owned Property Prohibition repeal law; The Rivers State Funds Management and Financial Autonomy Law.

Last weekend, after a seeming stoic silence from Governor Fubara on their earlier moves to apparently draw him out, the assembly issued a threat to reactivate the impeachment process against him. At a press briefing, the 27 members of the assembly threatened to resume the impeachment process against him if it became necessary to do so to uphold the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Led by Speaker Amaewhule, the lawmakers, during the press briefing in response to some pertinent issues raised by members of the former Rivers State PDP Presidential Campaign Council concerning the state of affairs, said it would not hesitate to sack the governor if he did not change his ways. They declared that they had the mandate of the people of the state and swore an oath of allegiance to the Constitution to do the needful, including the impeachment of the governor as a last resort.

Though their angst was against members of the campaign council, who they considered “enemies of the people and those who cannot withstand the principles of the rule of law, as well as checks and balances in our nascent democracy,” they vented their spleen against the governor, alleging that he was the one who recruited the group. They alleged: “The latest of the new groups recruited against the 10th Assembly is the ‘former Rivers State PDP Presidential Campaign Council. Their new strategy is to use another arm of government, lobbyists, attack dogs and the mainstream and social media to bring the House to disrepute and consummate their agenda. In this regard, various individuals, groups, media mercenaries have been recruited to actualize their objectives.”

The assembly members further described the former presidential campaign council as new arrivals, who had just landed like hawks, who only “want to grab what they spat on,” warning them to be careful of their ranting and utterances against the institution of the legislature and the FCT minister as they can derail the existing peace in the state.” They queried: “Should these new self-acclaimed advisers also not be advising the governor to do the needful so that there can be a smooth transition from the current democratically elected councils in the state to the next democratically elected councils and avoid the challenges of attempting the opposite? What about advising the governor to heed to the peace agreement he begged for, willingly signed, and has chosen not to abide by some of the terms?

“It is worthy of note that the notice of impeachment of the governor was quickly withdrawn by members of the House in fulfillment of the terms of the agreement and out of immense respect for the person and office of the President of the Federal Republic and believing that there would be a u-turn in terms of unlawful actions of the governor. The reverse is now the case as we see from day-to-day activities of the state governor being conducted outside the laws of Rivers State and the Constitution.

“To this day, Rivers State remains the only state without an appropriation law and the governor recklessly abandons laws of the state. These new hawks in the scene and all those who are quick to refer to the governor as “Mr. Innocent” will not go and advise him. They prefer to hold talk shows, organise rallies, hold press conferences, and announce that the House commenced impeachment proceedings against the governor for no just cause but fail to ask the governor if he has not been informed of the particulars of gross misconduct levelled against him or at least read them when they were filed in court in response to his petition.

“They must not forget that the Rivers State House of Assembly has the mandate of the people and that we swore an oath of allegiance to the Constitution to do the needful including the impeachment of the governor as a last resort. So, if it becomes a last resort, in accordance with the law, we will not hesitate to do so because no individual is bigger than Rivers State, including the governor.”

Still on the side of the FCT minister (Wike) is the caretaker committee of the APC in Rivers. The chairman of the committee, Chief Tony Okocha, seems to have the mandate of Wike and then ensure that Fubara is kept on his toes. The role of Okocha in the campaigns for the emergence of President, Tinubu and Governor Fubara from the 2023 elections and how he aligned with Wike to influence the outcome are instructive.  So, it was not a surprise to many observers, that he became the caretaker committee chairman of the APC in Rivers when there was a substantive State Executive Council (SEC) of the party in the state. He was also appointed as the state Commissioner on the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Chief Okocha is one of the several signatories to the Presidential Peace Proclamation on the Rivers State political crisis, which is more of an intra-party squabble essentially between Wike, the immediate past governor of the state and his successor, Fubara, widely acknowledged as Wike’s political godson.

As a staunch supporter of Wike, the fierce opposition of Okocha to Governor Fubara and his administration has not come as a surprise to many observers. He has been the most vociferous opposition against the administration and has, since after the signing of the Presidential Peace Proclamation, been on the neck of the governor, demanding the implementation of the terms of the accord.

Okocha has constantly been on different media platforms challenging Fubara on the various points of the proclamation like the conduct of local government election, re-presentation of the 2024 appropriation bill to the state assembly and others. He has also been critical of the administration for alleged incompetence and financial mismanagement, as well as withholding of funds meant for the local council administration.

At the weekend, while the Assembly was issuing their statement in Port Harcourt against the former Rivers State PDP Presidential Campaign Council for their declaration of support for President Tinubu and Governor Fubara, Chief Okocha was in Abuja granting a well-attended press conference against the council and its members. At the conference, he described members of the group as “hypocrites,” stating that it was an insult on the president and an attempt to malign the APC in the state, the President and FCT minister. Okocha said it was disturbing that the same persons, who said the most unthinkable things against Tinubu and rained insults on him as the APC presidential candidate in 2023, were now the people offering support, describing them as tongue-in-cheek politicians and over-night pseudo lovers of Mr. President. He said it was unfortunate that instead of advising Governor Fubara to obey and keep to the peace accord brokered by the president, which he willingly signed, and also concentrate on governance and conducting local government elections, they are making hypocritical declarations of support.

Okocha said, among many other things, including that, “The undeniable fact of the matter is that all those who lined up on that table and signatories to the text in issue are still ardent believers of Atiku Abubakar. Kindly take a look at the flex banner behind the table where they sat and see the picture/name of Atiku Abubakar. It was deliberate and intentional.

“These persons can never forgive President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nyesom Wike and APC Rivers over the sin of their woeful electoral defeat.

“Of course, it follows therefore, that anyone whose action or inaction, contributed to their dangerous fall, is inadvertently their sworn enemy. No wonder, they are surreptitiously targeting to cut out a pound of flesh from the Honourable Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Chief Nyesom Wike. A spectacularly failed mission indeed! This wicked subterfuge cannot work under our watch.”

On the part of Governor Fubara, it has remained a fierce battle for survival and effort to remain relevant after signing the Presidential Peace Proclamation and publicly affirming that he did it willingly. With the odds clearly stacked against him based on the eight-point agenda of the proclamation, many watched with a bated breath to see how he would implement the pact and be able to survive his four-year term as the Chief Executive of Rivers.

Just like his counterpart, he went ahead to take some steps including not interfering in the activities of the state assembly and releasing their funds to them.

He also re-appointed the eight commissioners who resigned their appointments at the heat of the political squabble. But this he did after he had replaced the Permanent Secretaries of most of the affected ministries with a clear charge to them to effectively oversee the day to day running of their various ministries.

The state witnessed the resignation of Edison Ehie, former factional Speaker from the Assembly with the governor appointing him Chief of Staff, to replace Sam Amadi, who was believed to have been appointed into the position by Wike before handing over to Fubara.

This came shortly after the Supreme Court affirmed the election of the governor, thus providing for him a stronger footing upon which to discharge his mandate as the elected governor of the state.

Before this, some prominent politicians and elders in the state had started lining behind the governor and drumming up support for him against the pressure mounted on him by the FCT minister and his group. Prominent among these men are former Governor Peter Odili, who was until then a strong supporter of Wike; another former governor and leader of the Rivers Elders Forum and his group.

So, with the Supreme Court verdict came every weekend thanksgiving from one part of the state to another and which has been a platform to quietly recruit members into the political platform of the governor at the grassroots, one point the opposition has held strongly in criticising the governor.

Similar to this is the resignation of some members of the Grassroots Development Initiatives (GDI)- the political platform deployed by Wike throughout his eight-year tenure to ensure political dominance of the state.

As at the last count, about 23 coordinators, 11 at the local government level and 12 at the ward had resigned from the GDI and joined SIMplified Movement, one of the political platforms of Governor Fubara. This is in addition to the daily solidarity visits from groups and communities to declare loyalty and support to the governor.

Just last weekend, the former Rivers State PDP Presidential Campaign Council join the many groups trooping to the Brick House to pledge their “unalloyed loyalty and support” to the governor. The council also extended the same loyalty and support to President Tinubu.

The number and calibre of politicians in the group is such that will give any opposition sleepless nights, hence the immediate angry reactions from members of the Rivers Assembly and the chairman of the APC Caretaker Committee. Besides, there is the legal angle to the entire crisis, which has provided both parties the basis for some of their words and actions. For example, the legal status of the 27 members of the assembly, who defected from the PDP to the APC is still a subject of litigation, as well as the question of the state’s 2024 budget, which, at some point in the crisis, was passed into law by the faction of the assembly led by Honourable Edison Ehie.

So, until these cases are determined and even long after, the ongoing political battle in Rivers State will be a long drawn one and not what can just be resolved by the defective Presidential Peace Proclamation because it is a battle of political control of the oil-rich state.

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