December 23, (THEWILL) – President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in the feud between former Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike and the current Governor of the state, Sim Fubara, who happens to be Wike’s godson, has been condemned by many Nigerians, especially indigenes of Rivers, senior lawyers in the country and Ijaw communities in the South-South led by Chief Edwin Clark.
Although many, including Chief Clark, had earlier called on President Tinubu to intervene in the crisis, they did so only to ask him to call Wike, who is the Minister of Federal Capital Territory and whom they considered to be the aggressor harassing and preventing Fubara from carrying out his duties as governor of the state, to order. They told Tinubu to warn Wike to allow Fubara to concentrate on his job.
THEWILL recalls that former Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, (SAN), had warned that the President’s intervention was not required in the ongoing political tensions in Ondo and Rivers states, saying the Nigerian Constitution did not give room for such a thing.
“Does the constitution assign a role to the President in this matter?” Fashola asked, while speaking at the Nigerian Air Force Officers Mess Honourary Members Forum 2023 Annual Lecture held in Lagos penultimate Saturday.
He said the Constitution clearly outlined the proper procedure and roles of government officials in such situations.
“Are those inviting the President to act in Ondo and in Rivers States not aware that the President has no constitutional role in these matters?” he asked.
He said that going forward, the “leadership in Rivers State” needed to “do the needful” rather than pass responsibility.
Also a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a member of the Board of Trustees, (BoT) of the party, Chief Olabode George, derided those calling for President Tinubu’s intervention in the Rivers Crisis, saying that the state belonged to the PDP.
He therefore called on the leadership of the party, especially the Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagun, to immediately intervene in the crisis before it spread.
“This is a litmus test for the ability of our party to survive after the mayhem we called election. The Supreme Court had already told us we lost. Come back home, let us set up a committee to go there. The governor is still a member of the PDP. Let’s find out what exactly is happening in Rivers,” George said.
However last Monday, the President not only intervened in the crisis in Rivers State, he made orders that have since being resisted openly by many Nigerians. Although the two belligerents agreed to the resolution and signed the documents of settlement.
In response to some voices that called on him to intervene in the crisis, last Monday Tinubu held a meeting with stakeholders in the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja. Those present at the meeting, which lasted till night fall, were Governor Fubara and his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Ordu; a former governor of the state, Dr Peter Odili and Wike, who was reportedly instrumental to the emergence of Fubara and other elected officers in the last general election.
Others who attended the meeting were Vice President Kashim Shettima; National Security Adviser’ Nuhu Ribadu, and the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.
An eight-point resolution was signed by Fubara and his deputy; Wike; Ribadu; factional Speaker of the Rivers State Assembly, Martin Amaewhule; Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State, Aaron Chukwuemeka, and his All Progressives Congress counterpart, Tony Okocha.
The document showed that instead of offering advice to the feuding parties, Tinubu had decided to issue a number of directives.
Summed up, the resolution reads: “All matters in court to be withdrawn immediately. Also, all impeachment proceedings initiated against the governor by the state House of Assembly should be dropped immediately.
“The leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly as led by the Rt. Honourable Martin Amaewhule shall be recognised alongside the 27 members who resigned from the PDP; the remunerations and benefits of all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and their staff must be reinstated immediately and the Governor of Rivers State shall henceforth not interfere with the full funding of the Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA).
“The legislature has the right to choose where to sit and conduct legislative business without interference/hindrance from the executive; Governor Fubara to represent the state budget to properly constituted RSHA; The names of all commissioners who resigned to be resubmitted to the House of Assembly for approval; No caretaker committee for local government areas in Rivers State; The dissolution of local government administration is null and void.”
Uproar Greets Resolution
The resolution met with severe criticism. The PDP, Eminent Lawyers and the Ijaw Group led by Chief Edwin Clark condemned it. Political analysts condemned the composition of the meeting, which they pointed out was tilted to Wike’s advantage. They noted that while the factional Speaker of the Rivers State Assembly loyal to Wike, Martin Amaewhule; was invited to the meeting, leader of the faction loyal to Fubara, Edison Ehie, who has also been confirmed by a court as the authentic Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, was ignored.
Some elders in Rivers state last Friday approached a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to declare the purported peace agreement with the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike unconstitutional.
They stated that the said agreement, which was signed on December 18, was not only illegal but amounted to an usurpation, nullification, and undermining of the extant/binding relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The plaintiffs, led by a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly representing Bonny State Constituency, Victor Jumbo, are Senator Bennett Birabi, Senator Andrew Uchendu, Rear Admiral O.P. Fingesi, Ann Kio Briggs, and Emmanuel Deinma also asked the court to order the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh poll to replace 27 lawmakers who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
Listed as defendants in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1718/2023 are President Bola Tinubu; the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Governor Fubara, the Rivers Assembly, Speaker of the Rivers State Assembly, and the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
They contended that neither Tinubu nor Fubara have the statutory powers to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from conducting fresh elections to replace the 27 Rivers State lawmakers who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Lagos Based Human Right Lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), said the presidential reinstatement of the 27 cross carpeting lawmakers is alien to the constitution in every material particular.
“In the case of Abegunde v Labour Party (2015) LPELR 24588 (SC), the Supreme Court held that a legislator who abandoned the political party that sponsored him and decamped to another political party has automatically lost a seat in the parliament.
“However, the cross carpeting legislator can only retain his seat if he can prove that the political party that sponsored him is divided into two or more factions.
“It is also necessary to point out that until a by-election is conducted by INEC to fill the 27 vacant seats, the remaining members of the House are competent to conduct legislative business except the impeachment of the governor, which can only be carried out by the two thirds of the entire members of the House of Assembly,” Falana said.
The PDP has also said that the 27 lawmakers who defected to the APC have lost their seats and cannot return to the House.
Addressing the media at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, the acting national Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagum, asked the “former lawmakers” not to be deceived by those in Abuja, insisting that they had willingly vacated their seats.
Damagum noted that the right thing for the 27 lawmakers, who defected to the APC, to do was to prepare for fresh elections under any political party they want as the PDP had already written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prepare for fresh polls in their constituencies.
The acting chairman, flanked by other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) said, “That INEC should, in line with Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 84 (15) of the Electoral Act, 2022, fix a date for the conduct of fresh election into the state constituencies in Rivers State where vacancies have occurred by reason of the defection of the now former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, pending the determination of any suit in any court.”
He said: “Our party insists that having now vacated and lost their seats, the only option available for the former lawmakers, if they wish to return to the House of Assembly, is to seek fresh nomination and re-election on the platform of any political party of their choice in line with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2022.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no division in the PDP at the national or any other level for that matter to justify the defection of the 27 former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly from the party. They, therefore, vacated their seats for reasons best known to them and cannot return to the House of Assembly without passing through a fresh electoral process in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2022.
“Moreover, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly Rt. Hon (Barr) Ehie O. Edison DSSRS officially declared the seats of the defected now former members vacant in line with Section 109 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). The Rivers State House of Assembly, having become Functus Officio on the matter, cannot re-admit the former lawmakers unless through the channel of a fresh election.
“Our party, therefore, counsels the former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly not to be deceived by anybody giving them the false hope and impracticable assurances in Abuja that they can return to the Rivers State House of Assembly without a fresh election or that the INEC can be stopped from conducting fresh election into the 27 Rivers State Constituencies where vacancies have occurred by reason of their defection.”
Also reacting, an elder statesman and leader of the Ijaw community, Edwin Clark, described the resolutions reached during the truce brokered by President Tinubu as “The most unconstitutional, absurd and obnoxious resolutions at settling feuding parties that I have ever witnessed in my life.”
Clark said it was obvious that Governor Fubara was ambushed and intimidated into submission but that the president should know that with all the powers he possesses, he cannot override the Constitution.
According to the First Republic minister, the whole exercise amounts to an attempt to hold the governor hostage by those forces against him. Besides, he accused the president of an utter disregard for the 1999 Constitution and the limit of his power and authority as president. Similarly, Clark said Wike ought to know better as a lawyer the import of the resolutions, which tried to override the power and status of an elected incumbent governor of a state.
He said, “The eight resolutions reached are the most unconstitutional, absurd and obnoxious resolutions at settling feuding parties that I have ever witnessed in my life. From all that transpired at the meeting, the laws of the land have not been obeyed. President Tinubu simply sat over a meeting where the Constitution, which is the fulcrum of his office as President and which he swore to uphold and abide by, was truncated and desecrated. Twenty-seven or so members (because the figure is not certain), of the Rivers State House of Assembly left the political party on which platform they were elected. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is very clear on that. Section 109 is quite clear on that. Nyesom Wike is quite abreast of these constitutional provisions.
“A court of competent jurisdiction has pronounced Edison Ehie as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. That ruling has not been vacated and based on that, he exercised the duties conferred on him by Section 109 (2) as quoted above, when the 27 or so members openly defected to APC, waving the flags of the party and singing President Tinubu’s campaign songs, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As at today and going by the Constitution, the Rivers State House of Assembly has four members who are recognised by the laws of the land.
“Therefore, on what premise is Mr. President saying that the 27 decamped members should go back to the House? Under what political party, the PDP or the APC. The directives of Mr. President are absurd and cannot hold water. Mr. President should be aware that Siminialayi Fubara, today, is the elected governor of Rivers State in the same manner Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the elected President of the country. And as a governor, Mr. Fubara possesses all the powers as conferred on him by the Constitution. Another “directive” of Mr President that the names of the Commissioners who were nominated by Nyesom Wike and who resigned on their own volition, and who have lost their trust in Governor Fubara, should be represented to the Rivers State House of Assembly for clearance to become Commissioners again, is ridiculous. Who is nominating them to become Commissioners again? Is it Mr. President?
“Another unthinkable “directive” of Mr. President is that a budget which has been passed into law should be represented. It is absolutely ridiculous and unconstitutional. By President Tinubu’s actions and directives, he has overruled the Constitution of the country; he has shaken the foundation of the country’s democracy.”
“We will go to court to resist this oppressive action using all available constitutional and legal means.”
Also a political commentator, Chief Sola Enuowa, has criticised Tinubu’s intervention in the Rivers political crisis, describing it as a bad omen for a federal system.
Speaking with THEWILL, Enuowa said “Nigerians are turning President Tinubu to a headmaster who must supervise the entire country. We can even appreciate his intervention in Ondo, being an APC state and he is the de facto leader of the APC. But his intervention in Rivers State is absurd. The Governor is a PDP man. The state belongs to PDP. It was on PDP’s platform that Fiber contested election and won. Why is the president crying than the bereaved. The crisis is for the PDP to resolve.“
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
