Rivers crisis: Political gladiators take battle to grassroots

DENNIS NAKU writes on the fresh political crisis in Rivers State emanating from the tenure of local government chairmen and traces the beginning of the feud between godfather and godson

One thing in the minds of many keen watchers of political events in Rivers State is how the festering crisis between the state Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his predecessor and estranged political godfather, Nyesom Wike will end. One question political observers will ask is who will laugh last?

Little did anyone know that the disagreement between them would degenerate into the current complex state of tension and uncertainty.

The nomination of the chairmen and members to serve as the caretaker committee for the 23 local government areas of the state by the governor and their subsequent screening and confirmation by the Victor Oko-Jumbo-led Assembly loyal to him following the expiration of the tenure of the then-serving chairmen on June 17, 2024, set the stage for the showdown,

Before now, the Martin Amaewhule-led 27 lawmakers elected when the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, held sway as the governor had vetoed the incumbent governor to amend the State Local Government Law which major provision was the extension of the tenure of the local government chairmen for six months over the failure of Fubara to conduct LG elections.

But the governor had called their bluff, refusing to utter a word over the action of the pro-Wike state lawmakers, keeping his plans to his chest and waiting to strike when the iron was hot

By Tuesday, June 18, 2024, the governor had sworn in the CTC chairmen, who in turn inaugurated their members after the state House of Assembly loyal to him (Fubara) gave them a clean bill of health ahead of Wednesday’s resumption of work after the two-day Eid-el-Kabir holidays where they would be expected to take over the various councils.

This was as 21 of the 23 local government chairmen elected under Wike, vowed not to vacate office, citing the amended local government law made by the Amaewhule-led Assembly which extended their tenure for six months.

Most of the council chairmen as it were under the aegis of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria made good their vows and proceeded to their council headquarters, but little did they anticipate the level of resistance they met on Tuesday, July 18.

Not only had hundreds of Fubara’s supporters and sympathisers alike occupied the facility, but they also chased the outgone chairmen who dared to put up appearance with temerity, just as some of them escaped being attacked by the whisker.

One of the hotbeds of the melee was the Port Harcourt City Local Government Area where the chairman, Allwell Ihunda, as he then was, who doubles as the State Chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, was chased by angry protesters, including members of the Ijaw Youths Congress, who hoisted the body’s flag at the entrance of the council secretariat, protesting the tenure elongation while he tried to make his way into the council premises.

It took the intervention of his security details who fired gunshots into the air to pave the way for his escape through Bank Road towards the regional CBN office in Port Harcourt. However, operatives from nearby State Police Command arrived shortly afterward, shooting live bullets and tear gas to scare away the youths, who insisted that they were there on a peaceful protest and to execute the directives of the governor for the newly sworn-in CTC chairmen to take over the affairs of the council.

Also, in Obio/Akpor, the local government of the FCT Minister, the crowd of protesting youths who made their way into the council headquarters in Rumuduomaya was overwhelming. The then LG boss, George Ariolu, was lucky as he was nowhere to be found the tension there tripled as they unleashed the anger that welled in them on one of his cars found inside the premises, smashing the windscreen and damaging other parts.

While the protest assumed a fever pitch, a group of protesters reached for a statue of the former Rivers State Governor inside the council secretariat, dragged and pulled it down, destroying it into debris.

While the youths also chased out ALGON members who they describe as stubborn from assessing the secretariat in Eleme, Ahoada East, Tai, Khana, and other LGs, the situation was extreme in Eberi-Omuma in Omuma LG of the state, as a clash between supporters of both camps turned bloody and left a policeman and member of a local vigilante group dead after they were shot.

The casualty no doubt necessitated the police takeover of LG secretariats and the subsequent directive by the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, that the police barricade would remain until a court of competent jurisdiction rules on the matter of the council chairman which was already a subject of litigation.

The litigated matters are that there is a subsisting May 2024 judgment of the Rivers State High Court presided over by Justice Daketima Kio which made any move to elongate the tenure of the council chairmen illegal after the declaring of the Local Government Amendment Law made by the 27 lawmakers as inconsequential with the provisions of the constitution.

Recall that a three-man Appeal Court panel had adjourned the case of the LG chairmen to June after hearing arguments from the parties.

The appellate court presided over Justice B.B Aliyu delivered the ruling after the Chairman of Opobo-Nkoro LG, Enyiada Cookey-Gam, and six others dragged Fubara and others to court. The Appellants had queried the amendment made by the Martin Amaewhule-led 27 pro-Wike lawmakers.

Also, Justice Dakatima Kio of the Rivers State High Court nullified the six-month tenure elongation for the local government chairmen granted by the Martin Amaewhule-led state legislature.

Justice Kio had on May 21 declared the local government law No. 2 of 2024 which provision extends the tenure of the local government chairmen invalid.

Looking back, the disagreement between the FCT minister and Fubara, a former Accountant General of the state, which has now spiraled to the local governments, began from the state House of Assembly following an alleged attempt to replace the Amaewhule-led leadership of the Assembly and replace same with a Speaker that will be loyal to the governor, to enable him gradually build his political structure, a move that opened the floodgates of violence.

An elder statesman and pioneer spokesperson for the Pan Niger Delta Forum, High Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, during one of his media outings, said, “Do you know that the governor almost resigned because of the overbearing influence of the FCT minister; but for the intervention of some critical stakeholders, Governor Fubara would have left.”

“It is unfortunate, and we must tell the minister to concentrate on his job in Abuja and allow the governor to govern the state,” Sara-Igbe, who is also an activist, added.

As the cordial relationship between Wike and his godson began to sour, the Martin Amaewhule-led majority lawmakers tried to outsmart their counterparts by plotting to remove Edison Ehie, who was then the leader of the House and staunch supporter of the governor by way of suspension. They (pro-Wike lawmakers) also appointed another leader to pave the way for them to commence the impeachment process on the state chief executive.

Prior to that time, Governor Fubara had started pursuing his destiny, frolicking with perceived foes of his predecessor, namely Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and his Bayelsa state counterpart, Senator Douye Diri, and the latter’s predecessor, Seriake Dickson, amongst others.

On October 30, 2023, the State House of Assembly located along Moscow Road was bombed, leaving the hallowed chamber destroyed, and the mace; the symbol of legislative authority, was carted away.

The day after, the pro-Wike lawmakers made their way into the Assembly, which was already under lock and key and manned by armed policemen. They held a plenary in one of the halls inside the complex and commenced an impeachment of the governor who they accused of incompetence and gross misconduct.

Amidst heavy security presence and barricades, the pro-Wike lawmakers afterward left the complex the same way they had entered in a long white bus escorted by armed operatives.

About an hour later, the governor, accompanied by the House Leader, Edison Ehie, some aides, and some youths walking towards the Assembly complex from the state secretariat axis were accosted by the security operatives who fired several shots into the air.

The police sprayed water on the governor but the youths that accompanied him kept shouting ‘He is the Governor of Rivers State’, just as Fubara advanced towards the complex, the youths forced the gate open, and the governor inspected the bombed facility and thereafter addressed the press. He queried the reason the 27 lawmakers wanted to impeach him.

With water dripping from his clothes, the governor even confronted a senior police officer who he alleged fired straight in his direction. A few days later, the state government ordered the demolition of the Assembly citing structural defects as a result of the explosion, even as the facility has remained shut ever since.

Following the imbroglio, the pro-Wike lawmakers during plenary at the Assembly quarters located along Aba Road, announced the suspension of Ehie as House leader and replaced him with Major Jack.

The 27 lawmakers during one of its sittings announced their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, even as the House became factionalized. Ehie, on his part, told newsmen that 24 of his colleagues had elected him as the new Speaker after a sitting inside the Government House in Port Harcourt, while he announced the suspension of Amaewhule and other few other colleagues.

Later, during plenary, Ehie, presiding as factional speaker, declared the seats of the 27 defected lawmakers vacant for dumping the party under which platform they were elected into the House, saying the House would write to INEC to conduct bye-elections to fill the vacant seats.

At the peak of the crisis, President Bola Tinubu intervened and invited the feuding parties to Abuja, a development that led to an eight-point peace agreement where Wike and Fubara agreed to sheathe their swords and implement the agreements.

But a few months down the line, the peace brokered by President Tinubu broke down and both parties returned to the trenches with renewed hostilities.

With the likes of the former acting national chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, former Transport Minister, Dr Abiye Sekibo, and Senator Lee Maeba, joining forces with Fubara against their known political foe, the crisis assumed a new twist of realignment.

At the centre of the impasse is the control of the political structure, and by a logical extension, control of the state which clearly explains why the battle has shifted to the local government areas.

Fubara, having survived an impeachment which was gathered, followed an earlier attempt by the governor to change the leadership of the state Assembly with those who would be loyal to him rather than dining with known enemies.

Meanwhile, the governor while swearing in the CTC chairmen said they could operate from anywhere for now if they encounter any challenge, even as he urged them to maintain peace at all times.

Commenting on the takeover of the LG headquarters by the police, the President of Ijaw National Congress, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, disagreed with the position of the IG that policemen would continue to man the LG secretariats.

This came as the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC in the State, Chief Tony Okocha, called for the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, citing the violence that greeted the tenure of the LG chairmen.

Okocha while expressing worry over the loss of lives said, “So the Federal Government should do what they should do to ensure that this state of anarchy we are heading to, does not degenerate for us to be seeing fire everywhere.

Continuing, the INC boss, Prof. Okaba said, “The IG directive that the police should be there, maybe from one point of view, you could say that the police have no business barricading the place particularly now that the governor has put in place a caretaker committee, which, though not in the constitution, is almost a norm in Nigeria; other states have done the same thing as an interim measure before elections are conducted into councils.

“Again, this is why we have been talking about the independence of the police. The constitution says the governor is the Chief Security Officer of the place. The Commissioner of Police should have taken orders from the governor. Now he is taking orders from the IG which again defines the kind of democracy and separation of powers we operate in this country.

“So, in all, it is a misnomer, which is almost becoming a norm in the country we find ourselves in. I feel we should be very careful with what is going on.

“It is very provocative if not properly managed can lead to bloodshed and all of that, and those are the things I have warned against. So, it is now left for stakeholders at the state, and federal levels to sit down together and look for a way out of all of this mess. I call it a very messy situation,” he said, even as he called on the President to intervene in the crisis rocking the state.

On his part, the Chairman of the Rivers State Civil Society Organisation, Enefaa Georgewill, said the stance of the IG showed that “the police have already put themselves in the arena by trying to be an interpreter of court judgments.”

He said, “We would want to warn that the police shouldn’t create situations where civil organizations like ours and other interest groups would have to move into the streets to demand that the police remove themselves from the political arena of Rivers state and obey a subsisting court judgment and equally respect our constitution that says that every local government chairman is supposed to stay for three years. Anything outside this, we will be left with no choice than to begin to mobilise our affiliates and other interest groups and to move to the streets of Port Harcourt and Abuja.”

Similarly, the River State chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees said it had issued a four-day ultimatum for the police to vacate the LGA secretariats, saying its members would be forced to take to the streets afterward.

The state NULGE President, Clifford Paul, who spoke to Saturday PUNCH on the telephone, said, “We have made a statement asking the Rivers State Police Command to reopen the gates for the workers because after the dissolution of the LG councils by the executive governor of the state, since then, all the gates of the 23 LG councils have been and there is no way my workers will be outside or will be absenting themselves from work.

“So, we are requesting that the needful has to be done. They should vacate the gates so that we can access our premises. We are giving them a four-day ultimatum, and after the four days, as a union, I will reserve that comment.”