One: The Wike-Fubara Rivers “civil war.” It broke out on 30 October 2023, with the attempt to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara, by Nyesom Wike loyalists. That “war” still rages, with no one sure of its denouement.
Two: The titanic tussle by two Emirs for the sole throne of Kano. Governor Abba Yusuf had thought it would be quick-and-sweet, with the “deposed” Emir Aminu Ado-Bayero out of town; and the “reinstated” Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II, serenaded into the Kano Palace.
But alas! It has since become a raging stalemate; with Ado-Bayero back in town, and challenging his ouster in court. Sanusi too isn’t sitting pretty, either!
Three: The Nigerian Army-Okuama domiciles’ clash, at a sleepy marine community in Delta State. It almost acquired a David-versus-Goliath hue, with local criminals killing 16 troops – three officers and 13 soldiers. A furious Army, smarting from a few felled troops, invaded the community. Many youths bailed out in sheer panic. Many a local VIP, not excluding royals, were whisked away to Abuja for questioning.
Well, the live coal of the Okuama conflict seems much cooled for now. But its ashen face may well cover the simmering tension under.
The cold war, between Wike and Fubara, finally broke out on 30 October 2023. It was the day of an impeachment that never was. On its eve – October 29 – an irate mob, suspected to harbour Fubara’s sympathies, torched a part of the Rivers State House of Assembly, clearly to stop the impeachment. But it was attempted, anyway.
On 13 December 2023, Fubara, claiming the House of Assembly had suffered irredeemable structural damage, sent in bulldozers to pull it down! Two days before – December 11 – Wike-leaning lawmakers, all 27 of them, announced their defection, from the Rivers ruling PDP, to the federal ruling APC.
On December 12, the Fubara side obtained an order, from a Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt, to deal with the four members, led by Edison Ehie, the ‘Speaker’ that stayed loyal to Fubara, since the majority 27 had “defected”.
That four-member faction then declared vacant the seats of the 27, led by Martins Amaewhule, for the alleged defection, thereby forfeiting their seats. What was more, Fubara would present his budget to that four-member Assembly, even if their original leader would resign and be appointed his Chief of Staff.
This twin-action – the 27 announcing a defection; and Fubara presenting his 2024 budget to a four-member Assembly – has mutually hooked the two sides. If the courts uphold the defection of the 27, then Fubara would have won. If otherwise, he would have been toast: for spending public money without appropriation – and Wike would be the winner.
By 18 December 2023, however, both parties converged on the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to sign a peace deal, brokered by President Bola Tinubu. That pact halted any further impeachment by the Assembly. On his part, Fubara was to re-present his 2024 budget to the Assembly of 27. The deal also directed Wike loyalists, who had resigned in protest, to go back to their jobs.
Controversies on the implementation of the peace pact only provided the fuel for conflict entrepreneurs to seize the moment, and make hay. More than a year after hostilities broke out, the matter, as consolidated appeal of many suits, is in the Court of Appeal.
Rivers waits with bated breath, as a distracted Fubara goes toe-to-toe with Wike, his former boss!
If the Rivers issue was a simmering quarrel that blew into an open war, Kano was what, in Tennis-speak, is an unforced error! But even if there was an error to be corrected, Governor Abba Yusuf and the State House of Assembly rushed the process, so much so that a Federal High Court voided the process, without necessarily nullifying the powers of the legislature to make laws guiding the Kano emirship.
The crisis had started in 2019, when the then Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, deposed the tempestuous Muhammadu Sanusi II, as Emir of Kano for “insubordination”. For effect, he split the sole emirship into five, adding four additional Emirates of Rano, Gaya, Karaye and Bichi.
But in the course of the 2023 electioneering, Candidate Yusuf and his leader in the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso (who crowned Sanusi when he was Kano governor) swore to revisit the matter. That, Governor Yusuf did May 23. Emir Ado-Bayero was away in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, visiting the Awujale, Oba Sikiru Adetona. But Ado-Bayero not only forced his way back to Kano, he also challenged his removal in court.
That has been the stalemate so far, awaiting determination. On October 30, the Court of Appeal reserved judgment on the matter. However, Kwankwaso, despite the sub-judice nature of the case, has read dirty politics to it.
“Lagos wouldn’t allow us to choose an Emir,” he grouched to graduating students of Skyline University, Kano, claiming that Lagos wanted to “colonize Kano”.
For context, President Bola Tinubu hails from Lagos. The Kwankwaso-Yusuf camp believe the “deposed” Ado-Bayero enjoyed “federal might”. That, to them, would explain his landing in Kano after his “deposition”.
Governor Yusuf even tried to arm-twist the Kano State Commissioner of Police to “arrest” Ado-Bayero and bundle him out of town. But the police boss spurned the order – and rightly so – pleading a court order that the parties should maintain status quo ante-bellum.
That, to the Kwankwaso camp, was proof of support from “Abuja”, which controls the Nigeria Police. Indeed, running Ado-Bayero out of town would have eased reinstated Emir Muhammadu Sanusi’s consolidation of powers. In truth, returning to Kano has helped Emir Ado-Bayero to stonewall the process, though his right to challenge the ouster, under the law, is unimpeachable. But that was the right dubbed the Lagos “colonization of Kano”, simply because the President is from Lagos. Dirty, banal, reckless politics!
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As it is, two Emirs, one throne – and Kano is in a virtual tizzy, awaiting the final resolution of the crisis. It could, however, run all the way to the Supreme Court.
On March 14, some felons ambushed and killed 16 soldiers in Okuama, a riverine community in Delta State. The ghosts of Odi (in Bayelsa State) and Zaki Biam (in Benue State), during the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo, leapt to the fore!
Odi and Zaki Biam – with Gen. Victor Malu, the Army Chief of Staff when Odi happened, in-between – were a bitter irony. When some Odi rascals killed soldiers and policemen, the Army under Gen. Malu, with the full backing of his commander-in-chief, laid siege to the town, killed, maimed and raped in revenge.
When Zaki Ibiam happened, Malu had left as Army Chief of Staff. But that didn’t stop the Army from giving Zaki Biam – Malu, its old chief be damned – the “Odi” treatment! It was now the turn of Malu to wail and cry! Zaki Biam was his home town!
The slain troops at Okuama – two majors, a captain and 13 soldiers – were responding to a conflict (reportedly over land) between Okuama and neighbouring Okoloba. But beyond the arrest of some suspects, including some traditional rulers taken to Abuja for interrogations, the government somewhat managed to control the crisis. Yes, the Okuama youths fled, and soldiers stormed the town and effected some arrests. But the crisis never plumbed the tragic depths of Odi and Zaki Biam.
Still, a video recording of a young man that claimed to be among those who ambushed and killed the soldiers went viral in the social media — the young man striking the irreverence and rebellion of Bob Marley’s popular reggae hit “I killed the Sheriff”. But it’s not clear whether or not the authorities effected his arrest.
