By Ochogwu Sunday The political crisis rocking Rivers State deepened last week, with shots fired from each side of the divide. ...
By Ochogwu Sunday
The political crisis rocking Rivers State deepened last
week, with shots fired from each side of the divide.
Leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the
state had asked the state lawmakers to begin the process of impeaching Governor
Siminalayi Fubara.
Fubara’s estranged godfather and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike,
on his part, described the choice of his successor as a mistake.
Wike, who spoke at an event in Rivers, begged God and his
political family to forgive him.
According to him: “I want to say this clearly: in life, we
make mistakes. I have made a mistake. I own it up and I say God forgive me. I
have said all of you forgive me. But we will correct it at the appropriate
time.
“I am human. I am bound to make mistakes. So forgive me for
making a wrong judgment. So nobody should kill.”
Wike also urged his supporters in the state assembly not to
succumb to intimidation, saying: “Don’t be afraid. Nobody will remove you as
lawmakers.
“Most of you don’t understand. This is our work. Our
business is to make them to fear. That is what I am doing. We will make them to
be angry every day and they will continue to make mistakes.”
Mr Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to the governor did not
waste time to respond, as he used the opportunity of another event in the state
to vow that Fubare would teach his opponents a political lesson.
He attributed the crisis in the state to the struggle for
resource control.
According to Ehie: “We are going to teach them a lesson of
political arithmetic. What that small boy (Fubara) will do to you, you’ll know
that khaki no be leather.
“The problem we have in the state is that 11 persons said
they would control the resources of Rivers State. These 11 persons now called
20 others to allocate resources to themselves.”
However, recent happenings show that the factional state
lawmakers are living up to Wike’s directive.
DAILY POST recalls that the now suspended House had earlier
overruled the governor when it passed into law several bills, which Fubara’s
camp believes were aimed at weakening the governor’s control of the state.
But in what appeared to be a fight-back, a Rivers State High
Court barred the pro-Wike speaker and 24 other lawmakers from parading
themselves as members of the House of Assembly.
Meanwhile, Fubara earlier on Friday ordered an immediate
relocation of the legislative business of the state House of Assembly to
Government House in Port Harcourt, where the Oko-Jumbo and the other two
lawmakers are expected to carry out legislative functions.
The relocation order was contained in the state’s official
Gazette, Executive Order of the Rivers State Government 001-2023.
The order came about 24 hours after Victor Oko-Jumbo, a
lawmaker loyal to the governor, emerged as a new factional speaker of the
assembly.
DAILY POST recalls that the governor on Monday, April 6,
declared that members of the state assembly, as currently led by the Speaker,
Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule, were no longer lawmakers, saying they do not even
exist.
Fubara noted that in seeking peaceful resolution to the
political crisis that erupted in the state last year, he had attended several
reconciliation meetings, whose resolutions the other party, where the state’s
lawmakers belong, had rebuffed.
The comment, which marked the beginning of the current
face-off, was not unconnected to the inability of the assembly to approve some
requests from the governor.
This is even as the lawmakers also accused the governor of
deliberately withholding his assent from bills already passed, terminating the
peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu on December 18, 2023.
DAILY POST recalls in a bid to quell the lingering political
crisis in the state, Fubara and Wike alongside other stakeholders including the
Rivers Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chairperson, Aaron Chukwuemeka, and the
Speaker of the state assembly, Martin Amaewhule, in December last year, signed
a resolution document after a meeting with Tinubu.
However, keen watchers of the activities in Rivers say
whatever is contained in the resolution now belongs to the dustbin of history
as both factions have returned to trenches.
What
triggered the recent crisis
DAILY POST gathered that the recent feud followed the
enactment of the Rivers State Local Government (Amendment) Bill and the refusal
of the governor to assent same.
On March 13, 2024, the House passed the bill and forwarded
it to Governor Fubara for assent, but he declined.
Overriding the governor, the House led by its Speaker, Hon
Martin Amaewhule, at its 159th Legislative sitting held at the Assembly
Quarters in Port Harcourt on Monday, passed the bill into law.
The lawmakers wanted the tenure of the Local Government
chairmen extended.
The
chairmen are all loyal to former governor and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
DAILY POST reports that the Chairmen in the 23 local
government areas of the state are expected to bow out of office on June 17,
2024 as their tenure elapses.
A source privy to the happenings told DAILY POST that the
House members, particularly the 27 lawmakers loyal to the FCT Minister, by the
amended law, wants the office of the Chairmen extended at least by six months.
The source, who does not want to be mentioned, however,
alleged that the governor withheld his assent because he was nursing the plan
to appoint caretaker chairmen who will be loyal to him.
“His plan is to ensure that everyone in the government who
is loyal to Chief Wike is pushed out. We all know that the current chairmen are
not with him, in fact, they also want the governor impeached.
“From the look of things, Fubara does not want to conduct
elections to replace the outgoing chairmen. He wants to install his own people
first before conducting the election. This is what is happening in the state.
“All these battles against the House of Assembly are because
of the LG chairmen. If you could remember, when the governor wanted to pass the
budget last year, he installed a factional speaker to make it possible.
“Now, he has installed another Speaker who will allow him to
appoint his boys to serve as caretaker chairmen in all the local government
areas”, he alleged.
The source further alleged that the lawmakers have vowed
that any attempt by the governor to appoint caretaker chairmen would lead to
his immediate impeachment.
Meanwhile, PDP and APC have been trading words over the call
for the impeachment of Governor Fubara.
While the APC alleged that the governor no longer respects
separation of powers, accusing him of abusing his office, the PDP insisted that
the seat of the 27 lawmakers plotting Fubara’s impeachment does not exist owing
to their defection.
Why Governor
Fubara must be impeached – APC
The spokesman of the Rivers State chapter of APC, Ikenga
Chibike told DAILY POST on Saturday that the impeachment call became necessary
to restore normalcy in the state, alleging that the governor had taken the law
into his own hands by hijacking the state assembly.
Explaining what necessitated the impeachment call, Chibike
said, “we called for his impeachment because the governor has become
dictatorial.
“He has no respect for due processes and he has been
attacking the House of Assembly and even the LG chairmen.
“The governor has taken the law into his own hands by trying
to intimidate the state assembly and all other persons who failed to agree with
his opinion on issues.
“Nigerians can recall that the president intervened in the
disagreement between the executives headed by the governor and the House of
Assembly headed by Martins Chike Amaewhule. The special intervention came with
a proclamation of about eight items.
“In the document, the lawmakers were asked to withdraw their
impeachment notice, which the assembly has graciously done.
“The governor was also asked to present the budget before
the properly constituted assembly headed by Hon Martins but the governor
refused.
“The governor had planned to hijack the responsibility of
the assembly. All the bills that were passed, the governor decided to withhold
his assent.
“The assembly decided to override him and he took offense
and decided to intimidate the assembly by declaring that 27 members do not
exist.
“So we called for the impeachment of the governor so that we
can have a responsible person who can take care of the state.”
Asked why the APC was concerned over the crisis in the state
citing the fact that the two major actors, Wike and Fubara are both members of
the PDP, he said, “the 27 lawmakers are members of our party, so we must stand
and defend their interests.
“Secondly, because Fubara is the governor of Rivers State
doesn’t mean he should govern only PDP members. He is the governor of Rivers
State and that includes those in his party, those in the opposition party and
those who are non-partisan.
“We are interested because the crisis affects our people and
it affects the development of our state.”
On the alleged move by the governor to appoint caretaker
chairmen for the 2023 local government areas, the APC spokesman said, “I will
not be surprised if the impunity continues. I won’t be surprised because the
governor has again proclaimed another faction of the state assembly.
“These are the signs of impunity and I won’t be surprised if
the governor continues on that line.
“It was on the basis of the fact that the tenure of the
current chairmen will elapse on the 17th of June that the assembly asked the
executive to conduct elections so that we can have democratically elected
chairmen.
“The assembly gave the Chairmen six months extension to
enable the governor conduct the election.
“If the election had been conducted before the expiration of
their tenure, there wouldn’t be any need for extension.”
Lawmakers with legibility issues can’t impeach Gov Fubara –
PDP counters APC
In a counter reaction, the spokesman of the PDP in Rivers
State, Sydney Gbara told DAILY POST that the 27 lawmakers loyal to the FCT
Minister lacked the power to impeach the governor.
According to him, “the truth is that the impeachment is not
possible.
“In the first place, the 27 lawmakers have eligibility
issues because they defected from the PDP to APC when there was no crisis in
the party.
“Ordinarily, they are not supposed to be acting except for
the presidential intervention which the governor signed and accepted to
recognize the Martins’ faction.
“You know at that time, we had two factions. We had the
Martins’ faction and the Edison Ehie’s faction which was recognized by a court
of competent jurisdiction.
“Edison would have gone ahead to function as the Speaker
that is recognized by law which has not had a contrary judgement up till today.
“Because of the governor’s stance for peace, he told Edison
to resign to give way to the other faction to operate.
“So they have only been operating by the lifeline given by
the governor of Rivers State, His Excellency Siminalayi Fubara but they abused
the privilege. Day in, day out, they continue to push out one retrogressive law
or the other against the state.
“They have been causing legislative nuisance in the Rivers
State politics.
“They are only for their selfish interest and that of their
pay master. The governor has pronounced them non existing and the pronouncement
stands.
“Today, we have a new Speaker, Hon. Victor Oko Jumbo. He has
been sworn in to continue from where Edison stopped. The new assembly is the
legally recognized 10th assembly in the state.
“This is why I said the impeachment cannot work. They are
illegally occupying the seats. They were there on the lifeline of the governor
and since the governor has withdrawn that, they cannot function.
“The Rivers Youths have vowed that they will besiege
wherever they seat to pronounce any impeachment against the Governor.”
On the allegation that the new Speaker emerged to enable the
governor to appoint caretaker chairmen in the 23 local government areas, the
PDP spokesman said, the new faction emerged because “Martins’ faction had laid
siege on the governor and the people of the state. Nothing is working.
“The government is moving in a mechanical and arithmetic
progression when they are supposed to be acting in geometric progression.
“House of Assembly in other states are making laws for the
development of their various states. With or without them, the government has
to move on.
“That is why we now have a government recognized assembly
that will work with the government for the betterment of the state.”
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has told the political
actors in Rivers that he would not take sides in the ongoing crisis.
Tinubu, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said that anyone with the belief that President
Tinubu would take their side in the political crisis would be disappointed.
The Special Adviser made the President’s position known
during an interview on TVC, insisting that Tinubu won’t allow any attempt to
frustrate the Rivers government.
“I believe that anyone who believes that by their actions,
whether it’s from the Federal level, State level or the legislative branch in
the State or the executive branch in the state, if they are banking on Mr.
President to take sides on this matter, they’re mistaking and they’ll be
disappointed,” he said.
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