The tension brewing in Rivers state escalated on Friday, July 26, as the ousted local government chairmen, still contesting tenure elongation, accused the state government of flagrantly and serially disobeying orders and judgments of superior courts including the Supreme Court.
The removed chairmen, who came under the auspices of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Rivers chapter, said the government had refused to dissolve the local government caretaker committees and their chairmen despite the recent Supreme Court judgement.
Reading their position, the chairman of the group, Allwell Ihunda, urged President Bola Tinubu, the National Assembly, the judiciary, and the security agencies to pay attention to what they described as the ongoing abuse of power and contempt of court in Rivers.
He particularly said the state government had continued to engage in persistent illegality and crass contempt of judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court delivered on the 4th of July 2024 and July 2024 respectively.
He said: “We are taken aback and saddened by the blunt inclination and rebellious stance of the Governor of Rivers State against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the explicit judgement of the highest courts in Nigeria.
“We believe that it is a major paradox and an aberration for the governor to be the major lawbreaker of the laws of our land. The socio-economic and political consequences of such executive lawlessness are dangerous. We make these bold assertions without fear of contradiction and in the overriding long-run interest of peace in our dear state”.
Ihunda said going by the judgement of the Court of Appeal in Rt. Hon Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule & 24 others Vs Hon. Victor Oko Jumbo & 5 others, the court held that section 272 (3) of the 1999 Constitution vests on the Federal High Court the power to determine whether the seat of a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly had become vacant or not.
He also recalled that the Federal High Court in January presided over by Hon. Justice Omotosho clearly nullified all acts of the purported four-man assembly led by Edison Ehie including Victor Oko Jumbo and affirmed Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule is the only Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Ihunda, the ousted Chairman of Port Harcourt City, further said that the Court of Appeal in its recent decision also voided all actions earlier taken by Hon, Victor Oko Jumbo before and during the pendency of the matter before the state High Court.
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He said such actions of the Hon. Victor Oko Jumbo led Rivers State House of Assembly included screening and confirmation of commissioners and caretaker committee members for the 23 local government areas in Rivers.
But he said: “The governor of Rivers State has intentionally disobeyed this judgement. You all are aware of the judgement of the Supreme Court in Attorney General of the Federation Vs the 36 State Governors delivered on the 11th of July 2024 which legalised and affirmed the autonomy of the 774 local government areas in consonance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
“Among several orders, the Apex Court abolished the powers of the state governors to set up caretaker committees in any guise to govern the local government councils in Nigeria as enshrined in section 7(1) of the 1999 constitution. This order also extricated the local government councils from the suffocating grip of the various state governments.
“In other words, by this judgement, the Local Government Areas are no more departments of the State Governments. Be that as it may, in sharp contrast distinction to the obvious implications of this historic judgement which has prompted many state governors to step down caretaker committees across the nation, the situation in Rivers State is totally different.
“Ours is another example of flagrant disobedience of the Supreme Court judgement. What we are seeing is repugnant to the provisions of the Constitution. In Rivers State, the State Government is busy promoting these illegal caretaker committees by encouraging the illegal caretaker committee chairmen and members to parade themselves as head of the local government Administration in the 23 Local Government Areas”.
Ihunda listed the actions of the caretaker committee chairmen, saying they were involved in a dubious quest to generate internal revenue thereby ravaging the pockets of the citizenry by collecting all sorts of illegal revenue from the unsuspecting public.
He said they were also threatening to dethrone traditional rulers if they failed to subordinate their stools to their whims and caprices.
Ihunda said they had lavish spending about N40bn that was confiscated from the local government councils’ accounts being monies due to the councils between April 2024 and June 2024.
He said: “It is sad that this enormous financial resource has been squandered on all sorts of frivolous activities. What a waste! To impose themselves without any atom of legitimacy, these illegal caretaker committees rely on threats to perceived opponents to perpetuate themselves in power in the various local government councils. This is increasingly generating tension among competing Youth groups in the communities in the state.
“Unfortunately, Governor Sim is also adopting the same ugly tactic of using the apparatus of state power to silence perceived opponents. Only recently, he is threatening perceived opponents of sealing their properties relying on trumped-up charges.
“The illegal caretaker committee chairmen in some local government areas are violently stopping communal projects promoted by the traditional heads of their respective communities and dictating where and what to build on community lands. Acts of this nature are already fuelling tension and threatening the peace and sanity of the communities in the local government areas.
“These illegal caretaker committee chairmen and members are busy on a daily basis convoking politically motivated stakeholders’ meeting in the capacity as the administrative heads of the local government areas to legitimise their fraudulent status in the local government areas”.
Ihunda said such meetings were brewing tension and mutual suspicion among members of the communities adding that the unfavourable environment existed because large sections of the communities questioned the legal basis for the existence of the caretaker committees as heads of their local government areas.
He said: “The Rivers State House of Assembly to be thorough in ensuring stark conformity of the Rivers State Local Government Laws to the Nigerian constitution as amended, had altered the relevant sections of the Rivers State Local Government Law which made provisions for the establishment of the caretaker committees. This bold amendment was carried out even before the recent pronouncement of the Supreme Court.
“Instead of obeying this law, the Rivers state governor is doing everything in his power to delegitimise the existence of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“He is still doing so even though the Court of Appeal has declared Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule is the bonafide speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. This is a direct attempt to create lawlessness in the state and dysfunctionality of the local government system in Rivers State.
“The extent to which the governor of Rivers State is disobeying court orders and even tagging decisions of superior judicial bodies as unconstitutional is alarming. To this end, we call on law enforcement agencies to swing into action and salvage the situation, lest the acts of the Governor and threats of the caretaker committee chairmen tear the state apart.
“The judgment of the Supreme Court is law. It must be obeyed by all and must be enforced timeously. We believe in the power and ability of the Police and the DSS.
“All defaulters of our laws should be brought to book as timely as possible as not to do so will result in citizens sourcing and settling for self-help; which would most likely degenerate into chaotic retaliations from interested parties, thus, further escalating the already existing tension and threat to the law and order in Rivers State”.
It was, however, observed that all the judgments had continued to elicit different interpretations from the two warring political camps.