Tag: Fubara

All eyes are on Rivers State to see how the warring political camps and their gladiators can facilitate reconciliation leveraging on the six-month emergency rule window. The affected arms of government, the executive led by the suspended Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara and the legislature led by the suspended Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martins Amaewhule, are expected to resolve their differences within the period of democratic rule’s abortion.

There is high probability of lifting the emergency rule before the expiration of the six months if the aggrieved parties can resolve their protracted crisis on time. But if they failed to do the needful and allow the crisis to linger beyond the six months, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly may have no option but to extend the emergency rule for another six months.

Therefore, Fubara, who is the worst hit and whose actions according to Supreme Court led to the suspension of democracy in the state must take up the responsibility of midwifing genuine and sincere reconciliation. He must roll his sleeves and be on the move to reach out to the staleholders the Supreme Court said he offended by his actions. Fubbara must be seen to be walking his talks. It is beleived that he holds the knife and the yam.

Indeed, it is believed that only genuine and sincere reconciliation will end the prolonged crisis and stabilise the oil-rich state. Such reconciliation is a precursor to the quick return of seamless democratic governance in the state.

But stakeholders are worried over what seems to be a gradual descent into politicisation of the ongoing reconciliation between Fubara and the suspended lawmakers.

Sakeholders are disappointed at the way events are turning out in recent times between the two camps. After about one month of silence following the declaration of emergency rule, it was revealed that Fubara met with his estranged godfather and benefactor, Chief Nyesom Wike. Many people described the meeting as a step in the right direction.

The meeting, which was reportedly brokered by two governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was believed to be the beginning of the peace process. During one of his media chats, Wike confirmed that he met with Fubara. But he quickly added that the reconciliation would not begin and end with him. He said Fubara must meet with other aggrieved parties in his camp.

Wike is saying that Fubara is expected to hold meetings with Amaewhule, suspended members of the state House of Assembly; the state elders led by Chief Ferdinand Alabraba and former chairmen of local government areas, whose revenue allocations were reportedly seized for three months before the controversial local government elections that sent them out of office.

Following his meeting with Wike, most people assumed that the suspended governor had gone underground to meet with various segments of his detractors to make peace with them.

Shortly after his meeting with Wike, a former President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, Udengs Eradiri, had appealed to Fubara to sustain the reconciliation tempo.

Eradiri specifically told him to shut his doors against crisis merchants and step up the ongoing reconciliation. He said Fubara must learn to keep enemies of Rivers that once surrounded him in abeyance. He said most of the people, who claimed to love the governor and offered him pieces of advice, were his real enemies because according to him they were profiting from the crisis and would not want it to end.

Advising Fubara, he said: “First, make yourself unreachable to those, who will come and slow this process down and feed you with unsolicited advice to abort this reconciliation”.

Observers are disturbed that the reconciliation may not be progressing as expected.  They are also warning the governor to avoid some pitfalls that led to the collapse of all peace process that should have ended the crisis.

People recalled that a chess game was responsible in deepening the crisis that eventually crippled democratic governance in the state. When the Supreme Court delivered the final verdict on the crisis, people had expected Fubara and his camp to act swiftly in the implementation of the judgement of the court especially in the area of re-presenting the state’s budget to the House of Assembly. Both parties resorted to playing politics with the judgement of the court and they suffered dearly for it.

On May 11, most observers concluded that Fubara was engaging his detractors. He cautioned his supporters during the Service of Songs organised for the Chief Edwin Clark in Port Harcourt. On that day, Fubara sounded differently. He roared his instructions and breathed fear into the minds of his supporters.

His outbursts came against the backdrop of series of protests calling for his reinstatement with many of them championed by women groups. Hardly had any day passed by than pro-Fubara groups holding demonstrations in different parts of the state.

Fubara, however, queried some of the actions of his supporters and those calling for his reinstatement. He told them that everything should not be about agitations insisting that he preferred a less confrontational strategy. He lamented that some of the actions taken by some of his supporters, though with good intentions, had only worsened his situation.

Fubara said: “Can’t you see how much better I look? Do you really think I’m interested in going back there? My spirit has already left that place. Not everything is by oshobe. Do you even know if I want to go back there? My spirit has already left there.

“To a lot of you here you don’t know what the situation is. It is not about Oshobe. It gets to a situation where Oshobe doesn’t solve problems. That is the truth. For that reason I am a bit careful on particular events. This event is not something I can avoid because Pa Clark is a special person to every one of us especially to me”.

On that day, he gave an impression that resolution was in progress and he would not like his supporters to derail it. Others interpreted the body language of the suspended governor differently. They suspected that Fubara wanted to quietly exit the scene as a way of giving lasting peace a chance.

Conversely, Fubara changed his tone in his May 29th message to the state.  He did not advance discussions on the probability of throwing in the towel. He said had got to a point where difficult decisions must be made in the interest of the people and Rivers. He also created an impression that serious reconciliation was ongoing.

Fubara said: “We are at a crucial point in our journey, where difficult decisions must be made. Be assured that every step we take will be guided by your best interests and the enduring good of Rivers State.

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“Your support has emboldened me to press on and not to retreat, but to work harder to foster peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness. These are essential to restoring normalcy and delivering transformational infrastructure, impactful programmes, and life-changing services across the State.

“As we reflect on the lessons of the past two years, I am hopeful for what lies ahead. I look forward to working hand in hand with all of you to build a State we can all be proud of: a Rivers State that stands as a model for the rest of Nigeria.

“To those still carrying the weight of our recent political struggles, I appeal to you, let us turn the page, come together, and focus on our shared goal of progress and unity. The time to rebuild and rise is now.

“As we look ahead, I reaffirm my pledge to consolidate on our gains and remain fully committed to the key priorities of this administration: peace, security, community welfare, and the socio-economic advancement of our State. Though our momentum may have been affected by political circumstances, our focus remains clear, and we are determined to emerge stronger, more united, and more result-oriented.”

On the same day, the suspended governor compelled most people to beleive that he had struck an agreement with his estranged godfather. Addressing an Assembly of the Simplified Movement, Fubara said his return was imminent. Referring to Wike as “my oga”, he said nothing would stop their reconciliation.

Fubara called on his supporters, Rivers people and Nigerians to commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his swift intervention through the declaration of emergency rule to salvage the state from looming anarchy

Fubara also said that the peace and reconciliation process required to restore all executive and legislative institutions and offices in the state was already underway.

He said:  “I want to assure you that the issues will soon be resolved, and you will come back to your offices; not just at the Executive arm, but also Legislative arm.

“And I also believe that the strong relationships we had before will return, and we will begin to work together again, for the good and progress of the State. What is important is for us to have a forgiving spirit. We are already in the peace process. I want you to thank Mr President for his timely intervention to salvage the situation, and stabilise the polity and the State. If not for Mr President, the story today would have been different.

“I don’t know how he gets his information, but the truth is that he acted with wisdom at the right time. He is the one you should thank. And let me also thank him personally for his intervention, and the personalities across the country, who moved in and appealed to him to intervene.

“We have to come down from our high horses, and subject ourselves to the peace process. And that is what we are doing. What is important is for the State to move forward. It is not about you, the interest of the State is paramount.

“There is no reason why there will not be peace between me and my Oga” in reference to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and his predecessor, Chief Nyesom Wike, adding, “There will be peace. We are meeting. We will reconcile.”

But doubts were cast on the reconciliation following Wike’s insistence in his recent media chat that nothing serious was underway. Wike said Fubara had not started the process to ensure genuine peace. He noted that after Fubara met with him, he told him to reach out to the lawmakers and other stakeholders involved in the crisis. He said since the day Fubara visited him he had not seen him again and that he had yet to begin the process.

Also, an ally of Wike and former Local Government Chairman of Emohua in Rivers State, Dr. Chidi Lloyd said that Fubara was not sincere with the reconciliation process.

Insisting that Fubara was playing the ostritch, Lloyd said: “We know him very well having worked with him for sometimes. He is a man, who says something and does a different thing. He tries to play the Ostritch. That is what he does. But he forgets that it is only the head of the ostrich that is in the sand, the entire body is outside.

“He will tell others that he has settled with his oga, but the oga has not seen him in the past two months. That is not the kind of thing we need now. When a man wants to make peace, it will show. The Bible says pursue peace with all men. It will show”.

Lloyd advised Fubara to go through the process of genuine reconciliation by meeting with members of the House of Assembly and other aggrieved stakeholders including former local government chairmen.

He said: “What kind of peace are you making? You have not met with the state Assembly, the major people that you have the issues with and the disagreement is protracted up to the Supreme Court and the court made a decision.

“I said to those who cared to listen after that judgement that in this scenario, governor Fubara is a prisoner of war and a prisoner of war does not dictate to his captors. It is left for him to stoop to conquer.

“He met the minister and the minister said it was not about him; that it is about the stricture. The minister is an astute politician and he would not want to say because they have come to see him everything is alright.

“The problem was protracted, the assembly; the former council chairman, who he abruptly sacked from office after seizing their allocations for three months and then karma came and suspended him. That is why we must be very careful the things we do. So, he needs to meet with these people.

“The movies that we watch today, there are behind the scenes that you do not see. As a governor, go to these people, call the speaker and tell him, ‘Mr Speaker, I am sorry, let bygones be bygones. You know I have never been a governor before. All of us are learning. It is a learning curve’.

“The Speaker will in turn speak to the other members. These are people whose salaries you seize for two years. Some of them their wives have left them; some couldn’t pay school fees for their children”.

When asked where the suspended governor derived his confidence that the emergency rule would soon be lifted, he said: “It depends on those, who are talking to him. He was the one that told us that he had spent a lot of money on this matter.

“There must be some people telling him that he would come back soon. They gave us 29th May date. It didn’t work; they said now it is June 12th. Let’s listen to June 12.  But the Bible book of Amos chapter 3 verse 3 says ‘can two work together except they agree?’

“Let’s even assume though not concede that on June 12 they will bring him back, the problem will still be there and that will bring us to what Ola Rotimi said in his play the Gods Are Not to Blame. He said until the rotten tooth is pulled out, the mouth will continue to chew with caution”.

The suspended governor left many people guessing recently when he paid a visit to President Tinubu in Lagos and had a closed door meeting with the President. His camp exploded with high expectations. It was not the first time that his supporters had expected his reinstatement. They initially expressed high hope that their master would bounce back to office on May 29th. But that hope was dashed.

But with the visit to Tinubu in Lagos, the camp of Fubara was in extactic jubilation. The camp popularly called the Simplified Family expressed confidence that the visit was a signal that the emergency rule was gradually coming to an end.

A supporter of Fubara and immediate past Mayor of Port Harcourt City, Ezebunwo Ichemati popularly called Sugar trended the pictures of the visit.

Ichemati, who was among the council chairmen sacked by the Superme Court judgement told the Simplified Family to get ready saying the outcome would be loud.

The post attracted hundreds of comments from members of the camp, who hailed Tinubu insisting that their victory was in sight. Others also expressed optimism that Fubara would be returned to Rivers State Government House, Port Harcourt on June 12, the Democracy Day.

Despite the high hopes, observers say only genuine and sincere reconciliation can end the crisis and reinstate the.execurive and the legislature. Any attempt to lift the emergency rule without first ending the crisis will bring back the same ultra vires that the emergency rule is designed to cure. Such situation will plunge the state back into deeper crisis of monumental proportion. Therefore, Fubara must own the reconciliation process and provide leadership in ensuring a conclusive end to the crisis.