Sir: Finally, the long-awaited declaration of emergency in Rivers State has come to pass! It has been long overdue! The chickens have come to roost!
Surely, there was no way things could have gone anotheer way given the way and manner the suspended governor, Siminalayi Fubara, was going about, behaving like a loose cannon, terrorizing the 27 elected assembly members, demolishing the House of Assembly complex, and running the state affairs like a one-man riot squad.
Who does that! Who attacks democracy with such gusto, so much effrontery and impunity like that and thinks he can get away with it? That’s what Fubara did for the better part of his two years tenure as governor and his suspension was a moment of reckoning!
Keen followers of political developments as they unfolded are not in doubt that the dramatis personae in the entire political impasse had it coming. When this matter seemed to be getting out of hand some eight months ago, the president had summoned the parties to Abuja essentially to broker peace. The president was not compelled by any provision of the constitution whatsoever to do so. He opted for that out of his own volition.
At the end of that meeting a 10-point resolution emerged for the contending parties to jointly implement to ensure peace.
Nyesom Wike and his men implemented theirs. On getting to his base in Rivers, Governor Siminalayi Fubara was advised by some leaders and his supporters to jettison the implementation of his own part of agreement. They were reported to have encouraged him to take full charge of Rivers, while asking the president to take charge of Abuja.
Even some well-meaning Nigerians and notable voices in Niger Delta were said to have made valiant attempts to mediate, with Fubara claiming to be absolutely in charge of the state.
For the period he governed the state, Fubara also took delight in disobeying the judgments of courts, preferring instead, to interpret written judgments through the lensesof his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
One example that readily comes to mind is the court judgment that halted the conduct of Local Government election, which he and his Attorney General twistedto suit their purpose.
Of course, the Fubara-led state government went ahead with the election; an unfortunate development that was trailed with carnage and destruction of lives and property.
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And then, in his moment of grandstanding, the governor also indulged in provocative and reckless pronouncements that he was ready to quit the office anytime and that, vacating the office does not amount to vacating the universe and, that the youths should await his further instructions.
It’s also instructive that an appellate court had adjudicated on several layers of cases brought before it, the most notable being its pronouncement that the 2025 Appropriation Bill be re-presented to the state House of Assembly led by its Speaker Martin Amaewhule.
It is tragic that as at the time of this, the 2025 Appropriation Bill, the centre-piece of that judgment has, still not been passed.
The last straw that appears to have broken the camel back was the suspended governor’s indifference and tacit but dangerous silence in the face of the threats by some Niger Delta hoodlums to vandalize oil pipelines should the governor be impeached. Indeed, it has since been reported that the hoodlums actually made good their threats.
As far as this writer is concerned, Simi Fubara has proven that he’s an accidental leader, with huge leadership deficiency, and so doesn’t deserve to continue in that exalted office.
His suspension serves him right, a warning to his ilk that leadership at any level, is for big-hearted, matured, patriotic and purpose driven individuals, and not for those who just emerged from the blues.
