Rivers crisis escalates as Wike, Fubara go full blown

Shots were fired from both sides of the split last week, intensifying the political crisis that is roiling Rivers State.

The state assembly has been requested by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, known as the APC, to start the impeachment process against Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

Nyesom Wike, Fubara’s estranged godfather and FCT Minister, called the selection of his replacement an error.

Speaking at a gathering in Rivers, Wike pleaded for forgiveness from both God and his political family.

As per his statement: “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 advised his supporters in the state assembly not to give in 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.”

The governor’s chief of staff, Mr. Edison Ehie, wasted no time in responding, seizing the chance of another official event to promise that Fubare would deliver a political lesson to his adversaries.

He blamed the battle for resource control for the state’s current problem. 

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 events indicate that the divided state legislators are following Wike’s orders.

ZINGTIE recalls that the House, which is currently in suspension, had previously overturned the governor by signing many legislation into law, which Fubara’s side believes were intended to erode the governor’s authority over the state.

However, in what seemed to be a retaliatory move, a Rivers State High Court prohibited the speaker in favour of Mike and 24 other legislators from posing as House of Assembly members.

Fubara, in the meantime, issued an order earlier on Friday directing the state House of Assembly’s legislative activity to be immediately moved to Government House in Port Harcourt, where Oko-Jumbo and the other two legislators are anticipated to perform legislative duties.

Executive Order of the Rivers State Government 001-2023, the state’s official gazette, carried the relocation order.

About a day after the governor’s supporter Victor Oko-Jumbo emerged as the assembly’s new factional speaker, the order was issued.

ZINGTIE recalls that on Monday, April 6, the governor said that the state assembly’s members—who are currently led by Speaker Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule—were no longer lawmakers, and they don’t even exist.

Fubara stated that he had attended multiple reconciliation sessions in an attempt to find a peaceful solution to the political crisis that the state’s politicians were a part of last year. Still, the other party had rejected their suggestions.

The assembly’s incapacity to approve some demands from the governor was not unrelated to the remark that initiated the current spat.

In addition, the lawmakers charged that the governor had purposefully abstained from signing legislation that had previously been approved, so ending the peace agreement that President Bola Tinubu had mediated on December 18, 2023.

ZINGTIE recalls that in December of last year, following a meeting with Tinubu, Fubara, Wike, and other stakeholders—including the chairperson of the Rivers Peoples Democratic Party, Aaron Chukwuemeka, and the Speaker of the State Assembly, Martin Amaewhule—signed a resolution document in an effort to end the state’s ongoing political crisis.

But since both sides have returned to the trenches, astute observers of the events in Rivers claim that whatever was in the resolution now belongs in the trash.

What triggered the recent crisis in Rivers State?

ZINGTIE learned that the latest dispute resulted from the Rivers State Local Government (Amendment) Bill’s passage and the governor’s refusal to sign it.

The House passed the law on March 13, 2024, and it was delivered to Governor Fubara for his approval; however, he refused.

At its 159th Legislative session, which took place on Monday at the Assembly Quarters in Port Harcourt, the House, led by Speaker Hon. Martin Amaewhule, overrode the governor and signed the bill into law.

The lawmakers wanted an extension of the Local Government Chairmen’s tenure.

The chairmen are all loyal to Nyesom Wike, the former governor and minister of the FCT.

According to ZINGTIE, the Chairmen of the state’s 23 local government areas are anticipated to step down on June 17, 2024, when their tenure will come to an end.

According to a person who was knowledgeable about the events who spoke with ZINGTIE, the House members, especially the 27 members who support the FCT Minister under the amended law, want the Chairmen’s tenure to be extended by at least six months.

However, the unnamed source claimed that the governor postponed his consent because he was advancing his scheme to name caretaker chairmen who would be obedient 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 insider said the members had sworn that the governor would be impeached immediately if he tried to name an interim chairman.

In the meantime, the PDP and APC have been arguing over calls for Governor Fubara’s impeachment.

The PDP maintained that the 27 lawmakers preparing Fubara’s impeachment do not have a seat because they defected, despite the APC’s accusations that the governor has violated the separation of powers and is abusing his position.

The APC’s argument for impeaching Governor Fubara

Ikenga Chibuike, the APC chapter spokesperson for Rivers State, told the ZINGTIE on Saturday that the impeachment call was required to bring the state back to normalcy and said the governor had taken the law into his own hands by hijacking the state assembly.

Chibuike explained why the impeachment call was necessary, saying, “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.”

When asked why the APC was worried about the state’s crisis, highlighting the fact that the two main players, Wike and Fubara, are both PDP members, he responded, “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.”

The APC spokesman commented on the purported governor’s decision to name caretaker chairmen for the local government districts in 2023, saying, “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.”

PDP counters APC, saying lawmakers with legibility problems cannot remove Governor Fubara.

Sydney Gbara, the PDP’s spokesperson in Rivers State, responded by telling ZINGTIE that the 27 legislators who supported the FCT Minister lack 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.”

According to the PDP spokesman, the new faction formed because “Martins’ faction had laid siege on the governor and the people of the state,” refuting the claim that the new Speaker was chosen to allow the governor to name caretaker chairmen in each of the 23 local government districts. Nothing seems to be functioning.

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.”

President Bola Tinubu has informed the Rivers political players that he will remain neutral in the present dispute.

Speaking through his Special Advisor on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, President Tinubu said that anyone expecting him to side with them in the political dispute would be disappointed.

In an interview with TVC, the Special Advisor revealed the President’s stance, stressing that Tinubu will not tolerate any attempt to undermine 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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