These are incredible but fascinating times in Rivers State. Albeit the war I foresee is impending yet, in actual fact, the battle has already started.
The sub-national state of Rivers has always been the epicenter of intriguing political developments in Nigeria. In many respects, Rivers State is significantly strategic for the economic survival of Nigeria. Therein lies the political economy of this crisis.
However, the current impasse presents an unsettling dimension to the whole scenario which underscores all that has gone wrong with power relation and contests for power in Rivers State. In particular, it emphasizes the unconscionable alienation of the people of the State who are supposed to be the ultimate object and beneficiaries of every political activity and engagement.
It’s no use anticipating a quick resolution of the current crisis. It is equally hopeless to keep hoping against hopes that an amicable solution is at sight. To be sure, the battle which has begun will rag on without a predictable or determinable end. This is easily noticeable from the repeated attempts to resolve the matter(s) either politically, legally or otherwise to no avail.
Barely a month or two after Fubara’s assumption of office, the crisis broke. Initially, the scuffle was attributed to Wike’s insistence on nominating virtually all the commissioners in Fubara’s cabinet. A deft act of State Capture! No one was left in doubt about the inordinate desires of the Overlord, yet he had his way.
The slightest resistance saw the ill-advised cross-carpeting of 27 out of the 32-member State House of Assembly to a different political party, the APC where the master now sojourns. APC is clearly different from the PDP that sponsored the election of the legislators to the State Assembly. It was an ill-fated, ill-advised political move. But it made huge political sense then as an open displayed of their loyalty expected from all of them whose election expenses were borne, bank rolled and underwritten by the Godfather himself.
At all times material to this overzealous misadventure in absolute display of blind loyalty, none of them remembered the very potent constraints in the proviso to S.109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution which prohibits flimsy cross-carpeting in recognition of the binding social contract between a legislator and members of his constituency. Ours is touted to be a representative democracy. Thus, except a legislator is able to provide cogent proof that his or her defection was on account of a division in the party that sponsored him, which division affected the entire party structure up to the national leadership, then he is bound to loose his seat in the Assembly. This standard of proof has been given judicial approval in the Supreme Court case of Abegunde vs. Ondo State House of Assembly & 11 Ors (2015) 8 NWLR (Pt. 1461) P.314 @ 375.
In June 2001, eight prominent members of the then ruling People’s Democratic Party including Chief Don Etiebet, Chief Sunday Awoniyi, Chief Edwin Ezeoke, Alhaji Bamanga Turkur, Alhaji Ashake Jarama, Harry Marshall, Emmanuel Ibeshi and Gbenga Olawepo were sacked for varying anti-party activities including the formation of a different political associations without first resigning their membership of the PDP. About the same time, Messrs Wahab Dosunmu, Brimo Yusuf and Fidelis Okoro decamped from the Alliance for Democracy to the ruling People’s Democratic Party. Evidently, it was a fact that the Alliance for Democracy was divided into two factions led, then, by Mallam Mamam Yusuf and Alhaji Abdulkardi respectively. But not so this time.
In fact, I remember writing on this topic in an article captioned “Decamp As Departure” to emphasis the point that the political cord between a Legislator and members of his constituency or district who elected him on the basis of the programmes and manifestos of the sponsoring party is severed once (s)he jumps ship midstream.
It is clearly evident that the gladiators are digging in uncontrollable. Virtually all Commissioners in the cabinet of Siminalayi Fubara resigned their appointments enmass before the intervention of Mr. President who directed, as part of the political solution, that they should all be reabsorbed into the cabinet. The mass exit was meant to cripple the Government.
The situation has deteriorated in no small measure and no love lost, since then, between ex-Governor Wike and his political son. Some accounts have it that Governor Fubara was banned from visiting or attending any political meeting or gathering at Abuja. Indeed, we observed his repeated absence from crucial national meetings at Abuja including the Council of State Meetings where he was constitutionally entitled to be in attendance. No doubt, his fundamental rights to movement and liberty came under siege thereby. We cannot forget, in a haste, the invidious plot to impeach the Governor and the attendant demolition of the State House Assembly structure. It was an over-kill is my view at great financial cost to the resources of the state.
The visit of the Governor Fubara on Thursday, May 9, 2024 to the legislative quarters after the emergence of a factional speaker witnessed a corresponding outcry from stakeholders who mulled every eventuality however disproportionate. On May 15, 2024, five out of the readmitted commissioners tendered their resignation letters, once again, citing the continued toxic environment of work place and the lingering crisis engulfing the State.
Groups after groups are now cuing behind the two gladiators in a manner that has turned the state apart and now introduced ego, pride and sentiment as intractable obstacles militating quick resolution of the crisis. Governance and programmes of development have, in the circumstances, come to an abrupt halt end. In all of these, it should be remembered that the Fubara administration, will in a matter of days, mark its first anniversary in office. Yet an important economic policy document such as the appropriation law 2024 otherwise known as the budget has been dug by unending controversy. What then, will happen to its implementation when passed before speaker jumbo or Amaewhule?
The legislature now has two factional speakers. The later Hon. Victor Oko Jumbo was elected by just two legislators who proceeded on the basis that the Martin Amaewhule faction and his group were no longer members of the Rivers State House of Assembly haven defected from PDP and lost their respective seats. To that extent, their demand that His Excellency should represent the 2024 Appropriation Bill for consideration was inappropriate because that would be submitting to an illegitimate body to legitimize an important state document like the annual budget.
Given the foregoing developments, it is clear that a considerable period of time will still elapse before any form of solution can be found for the following reasons.
First, Wike had dared and humiliated Fubara and exposed him to public ridicule and odium. Merely announcing that he made him Governor of Rivers State and now apologizing that it was a regrettable mistake is both a travesty and tragedy of our democratization efforts. But what is more? It is condescending and belittling of the people of Rivers State to drop the aberration in the manner that he did. It meant that the locus of power in Rivers State did not actually reside with the people of Rivers State as espoused under Section 14(2)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As Amended).
For the avoidance of doubt, S.14(2)(a) provides as follows: 2(a) Sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this constitution derives all its powers and authority.
The entire crisis which the June 12 1993 debacle created was no different. We resisted the notion that the collective will of the Nigerian people as expressed on June 12 1993 can neither be subverted nor circumvented by anybody or group of persons.
In the context of this discourse, it should be appreciated that the people and government of Nigeria also applies to citizens and government of sub-national entities like Rivers State. It clearly meant that albeit the gubernatorial election took place in Rivers State on March 18, 2023 but the determination of the collective will of the citizens of the Rivers State was actually the subjective wish of Mr. Wike.
Secondly, the poor management of the crises has completely polarized the entire state along Wike/Fubara camps. Observing that this is all about a misunderstanding between former Governor, Nyesom Wike and his protégé Fubara exposes the poverty of an already bad situation in relation to its devasting impacts on citizens of River State. The intervention of President Tinubu who sought to resolve the matter politically appears ineffective although in the Machiavellian politics that they play, it might ultimately be in his calculus that no solution is actually struck in Rivers State as 2027 approaches.
Thirdly, and as predicted, the battle will rage on still because of the strategic positions of the gladiators involved. They are not just deeply involved in the affairs of the state, they both understand exactly where the dead bodies are buried, so to speak. Between a Governor Wike and Auditor General Fubara with his wide powers under S.125 and 226 of the 1999 Constitution, the finances of Rivers State could be (mis)applied albeit illegally hence the repeated red flags raised by the EFCC against the incumbent Governor in the past.
Another intriguing dimension to this whole fiasco is that Governor Fubara will have no option than to deploy all the “fighting strategies and formulae” that Ex-Governor Wike used to send his predecessor and benefactor to political purgatory.
The first strategy is already introduced. It is the composition of a judicial panel of inquiry by Governor Fubara pursuant to the same Tribunal of Inquiry Law of Rivers State which Wike relied on to probe Amaechi’s administration. Although the terms of reference of the panel are well spelt out, yet, Governor Fubara has taken an additional step to consolidate on this move by appointing and swearing in Dagogo Iboroma SAN as the new Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of the state to drive this process as a first assignment. This office, as attractive and dignifying as it could be, should not be envied by anyone. It is an extremely difficult and awkward time where the rule of law and independence of the Judiciary remain the first casualties. Nevertheless, his job is clearly out for him.
Ex-Governor Wike assumed office, in the first instance, on May, 2015. By 19th of June, 2015, he had constituted and inaugurated a Judicial Commission of Inquiry, to investigate the sales of some valued assets of Rivers State by the Rotimi Amaechi’s Government with six clear terms of reference and a deadline for conclusion within one month of inauguration. By 6th of July, 2015, former Governor Rotimi Amaechi, through his team of lawyers led by the incumbent Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, challenged the action of the Wike’s administration through an originating summons in Amaechi vs. Gov., of Rovers State (2011) 17NWLR (Pt. 1858) P. 1 but lost the action from the Court of first instance to the intermediate appellate Court up to the Supreme Court. The only difference being that whereas Wike was Chief of staff to Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Fubara was the Auditor General in Wike’s administration.
Furthermore, Fubara appears to have found his voice and must then proceed, with speed, to fortify and energize his base intentionally and purposefully. From the ground swell of support, he appears to gather particularly at the grassroot, it seems he enjoys the support of the masses of the state, no thanks to Governor Wike’s recalcitrance and overzealousness. He clearly needs to be intentional and purposeful in his messaging and strategy of rallying his base with the right narrative because his political survival depends on them now. There isn’t much room for ambivalence or sitting on the fence. He must deploy his attack dogs in the “language” that Wike understands because such was his tactics against Rotimi Amaechi.
Again, Governor Fubara must learn the act and skill of building bridges and supporting any cause that will ultimately benefit him and his political career. There is no doubt that Rivers State a fortiori, the Governor of the State is sufficiently empowered and resourced to redirect the course of any struggle. Never mind the Wike’s foot soldiers who are exiting Fubara’s administration. They will and cannot all be absorbed at the Federal Capital Territory. Sooner than later, they would soon realize the folly in their indiscretion.
Finally, Fubara should limited his financial expenses and focus on more infrastructural projects across the State. Certainly, the patronages could still go on but it will be in his enlightened interest that he intensifies execution and completion of projects including those not needed.
The above prescriptions remained the know recipes deployed by Wike against Amaechi. Therefore, Fubara already have the completes to engage except that the good people of Rivers State will continue to suffer!