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Tag: Rivers crisis

  • Rivers crisis: AIG assesses security situation, insists on police neutrality

    Rivers crisis: AIG assesses security situation, insists on police neutrality

    The Assistant-Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 16, Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, AIG Paul Omata, has visited the state to assess security situations amid the ongoing political crisis in Rivers state.

    AIG Omata, who addressed the officers in the Police Mess in Port Harcourt on Thursday, June 27, emphasised the importance of professionalism and neutrality in maintaining peace and security in the state.

    He said: “My visit is to assess the security situation and ensure our men are doing their job effectively”.

     He commended the Commissioner of Police and his team for keeping the state calm and urged him to remain firm, humble, and professional.

    The AIG said he would visit local government area headquarters to gain a firsthand understanding of the situation on the ground.

     He emphasised the need to prevent violence, ensure the safety of citizens, and maintain neutrality in the face of political tensions.

    He said: “Be very professional in carrying out your duty. For anything you don’t know, revert to your DPOs, Area Commanders, DCs, and the CP so you don’t take action that will affect the command.

    “Control your men working under you, so that they will not go astray and miscreants will not use the opportunity to take over the situation.

    “We thank God no LGA has been razed property in any LGA has been stolen. Unfortunately, that day there were two deaths. It will not continue again, remain focused.

    “Do not lose track, anything you don’t understand revert to your Area Commanders, DCs and CP so that they will give proper direction.

    “Even we here, anything we don’t know we get back to the DG Ops, DG South South and sometimes IGP to get direction.”

    On the decoration of the two Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs), the AIG Omata disclosed that the Inspector General of Police was determined to reward hard work.

    He explained that across the country, only Rivers had two officers, who were promoted to the rank of ACP explaining that some states had one and some none.

    Read Also: Rivers crisis: Pro-police protests rock 21 council secretariats

    Earlier, the Commissioner of Police in Rivers state, CP Olatunji Disu assured that his men would continue to be neutral and do anything to protect the image of the Nigerian Police Force.

    He said: “We will continue to be neutral and not do anything that will disgrace the Nigeria Police and the nation.

    “Before you came my officers have told me they will continue to be professional in the process of maintaining law and order.

    “I want to express my appreciation to the Inspector General of Police for finding them worthy of the promotion. The officers are wonderful in the command, if I have my way they will remain in the command.

    “My charge to them is to continue what they know how to do best, protect life and property. They should also mentor and motivate junior officers on the work. For the ones that are yet to be promoted, I urge them to work hard and pray as their time will come.”

  • Rivers crisis: Pro-police protests rock 21 council secretariats

    Rivers crisis: Pro-police protests rock 21 council secretariats

        •  Court to continue with suit seeking removal of Amaewhule, 24 others despite petition

    Supporters of ousted local government chairmen yesterday held peaceful protests in support of the police that have taken over the 21 local government secretariats in Rivers State.

    The police are on guard to maintain law and order at the secretariats, pending the decision of the Court of Appeal on the litigation involving Speaker Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly and factional Speaker Victor Oko-Jumbo.

    The protests were organised to counter the earlier plans by the state chapters of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), which had unfolded plans to protest against the police.

    The Labour unions, however, cancelled the move after the intervention of the newly inaugurated caretaker chairmen, who warned against the demonstrations and declared support for the police.

    In Ikwerre Local Government Area, Dr. Samuel Nwanosike, who led the protesters to the point of police barricade and described himself as the properly elected chairman of the council, told the Police Area Commander of Ikwerre LGA that they would never disobey the police.

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    Nwanosike, who led hundreds of others comprising men, women and youths said they only decided to embark on the peaceful demonstration, following information that some labour leaders had mobilised to harass the police out of the council.

    He said the failure of Governor Siminalayi Fubara to conduct council elections compelled the Amaewhule-led House of Assembly to amend the law to grant six-month tenure extension to the chairmen.

    He said: “I am still serving this council. Today I have five months and 25 days remaining in office by the laws made by Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly.

    “ We got credible information that those, who are members of the caretaker committees in the name of civil servants and who want to be judges in their own matters, had gone to connive with hoodlums to come and intimidate and harass the police to leave the council.

    “Nothing on earth will make us break the laws of Nigeria and nothing on earth will make us disobey your orders. We have been patient with the Nigerian police even when it hurts us we still understand that the Constitution is the grund norm and the judiciary is the last hope of the common man.

    “If the judiciary had said all parties should maintain the status quo, we don’t think it will be reasonable for NULGE to come and disobey the order of the Inspector-General of Police and the state Commissioner of Police.

    “We are not here to foment trouble but if they want to take their luck too far, we are here to state that we own this council. I and this men and women here laboured and inconvenienced ourselves to rebuild this council from scratch when these hoodlums struggling to enter this council embezzled all that was available to them and refused to work for this council.

    “Today the council is a beautiful edifice, an envy of all and everybody is doing everything to come and occupy it. It is a good thing but what we are saying is we didn’t create the lacuna that is happening today.

    “Our governor refused to conduct elections as provided by law and you know in governance there is no vacuum. We are here to state that as long those miscreants don’t come here we will continue to stand by the side eat and drink”.

  • Rivers crisis: Ousted chairmen kick against dissolutions of standing committees

    Rivers crisis: Ousted chairmen kick against dissolutions of standing committees

    Some of the ousted chairmen of Rivers State local government areas have kicked against the decisions of the newly inaugurated caretaker chairmen to dissolve standing committees in their various councils.

    The ousted Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Dr. Samuel Nwanosike, said the caretaker committee Chairman, Darlington Orji, lacked the legitimacy to dissolve the committees.

    He said: “The announcement from the said Darlington Oji is entirely false and misleading. Dr. Nwanosike Samuel, as the duly elected chairman, retains full authority over the establishment and dissolution of all committees within the Ikwerre Local Government.

    “Any such decision must come directly from his office, and no such dissolution has been authorized or communicated by him.

    “The committees in question remain active and continue to perform their designated functions under the leadership of Dr. Nwanosike Samuel. It is important for the public to be aware that any contrary claims are baseless and should be disregarded.

    “We urge the public to rely on official communications from the office of the Ikwerre Local Government Chairman for accurate information”.

    Also the ousted Chairman of Obio-Akpo, Dr. George Ariolu, said the committees dissolved by the new caretaker chairman, Chijioke Ihunwo, remained functional.

    He said: “I state that all standing committees, and ad hoc committees formed and created by me, the Executive Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Council, George Ariolu Ph.D. remains functional and operational.

    “I make this rebuttal because the Rivers State House of Assembly led by Martin C. Amaewhule has extended the tenure of Executive Chairmen, Vice-Chairmen and councillors of the local government council of Rivers State by six months, and same extension is now subject of litigation pending before, for which the court has ordered that parties maintain status quo.

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    “Based on our information, one Chijioke Ihunwo and his illegal CTC members have in a letter dated 19th day of June, 2024 in defiance of the order of the court and the extant law as made by the Rivers state House of Assembly announced the dissolution of all standing committees and adhoc committees created by the elected council executive.

    “A detailed appraisal of the present situation indicates that Chijioke Ihunwo and his cohorts do not have any right from any source of law, being that the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended do not recognize Caretaker Government, and to dissolve any committee formed/created by the elected executive of the local government council or create by elected local government official for whatever purpose, is an aberration.

    “Consequently, members of the public are advised to ignore whatever announcement regarding the dissolution of all or any standing committees adhoc committees of Obio/Akpor Local government council ranging from revenue, sanitation environmental, markets operating within the LGA.

    “I further advise that members of the public should continue to relate.ans deal with all members of the committees as formed by the elected Executives of Obio/Akpor local government council, and also request that the security agents will take notice of this position and deal with same appropriately”.

  • Rivers crisis: Edwin Clark faults Sekibo over comment on Ijaws

    Rivers crisis: Edwin Clark faults Sekibo over comment on Ijaws

    ..acusses Sekibo of sacrificing Ijaws on alter of politics 

    Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark has disagreed with the submission of Senator George Sekibo on the role played by Nyesom Wike concerning Ijaws. 

    Sekibo recently championed the formation of Ijaw Peoples Congress. 

    The group also commended Wike for helping an Ijaw man become the governor of Rivers. 

    The Ijaw leader said Sekibo’s action amount to sacrificing the Ijaw soul on the platter of political patronage.

    He therefore said there were perceived errors in the role attributed to Wike in the emergence of an Ijaw man as the governor of the state. 

    He also noted that before then, there had been an agitation by the ijaws to have one of their sons to govern the state. 

    Clark also noted that despite the numerous sacrifices made by the ijaws for Wike in the 2015 and 2019, they never asked him to bow.

    The letter reads partly: “I am writing to put things in proper context because a number of wrong information was communicated both in your speech and subsequent television interviews as it pertains to the roles played by various persons, particularly your principal, Chief Nyesom Wike as it concerns the Ijaws. 

    “My dear son, the Ijaws have made sacrifices for the survival of, and growth of all tribes in Rivers State, including Barr. Nyesom Wike, without expecting the beneficiaries of such Ijaw kind gestures to be excessively sublime towards them, or expect them to lay on the ground for Ijaws to step on them. 

    “Nyesom Wike knows, that aside from God, the biggest players who have supported him to rise to his political level today, are the Ijaws, including myself. I am sure he knows the roles I have played in his political ascendency. There is, therefore, no need to be apologetic to Barr. Nyesom Wike, when there is no offence.

    “In the course of the Ijaws fighting for people of all tribes, it was almost a daily occurrence with all the political actors seeing ourselves as one. 

    “The 2015 election was particularly tough due to the emergence of APC in Nigeria and in Rivers State as a strong force.  At that time, the former Governor Amaechi had moved from PDP to APC and presented Dakuku Peterside, a prominent Ijaw son to contest the election.  

    “This notwithstanding, we abandoned our son, Dakuku and supported Wike.  Secondly, the election was very fierce in Okrika and the Kalabari areas and could have stopped Wike from becoming the Governor but the Ijaw people stood face to face with the military with guns and in some points, confronted them even with women going nude to pursue the Wike election. For instance, in Ogu, where the women protested against military violations of the election. I reproduce here an excerpt of how the Vanguard Newspaper of March 30, 2019, reported it. 

    “Election: How women used menstrual blood to stop soldiers in Rivers

    Alarmed Nigerian soldiers were forced to abandon their mission to hijack ballot boxes during the March 9 Governorship/House of Assembly elections when a leader of the protesting Ogu/Bolo communities in Rivers State, out of desperation, sprinkled blood from her drenched menstrual pad on military patrol vehicles and by some mystical interference, the engines refused to kick.

    “The protesting women leader and Vice Chair, Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area … confirmed she took off her heavily soaked menstrual pad, squeezed the blood all over Army patrol vehicles and the drivers could not start the vehicles. It was mysterious…. the Nigerian … had to pour a bottle of dry gin on the military vehicles and prayed or rather uttered incantations before they started. Following the strange incident, soldiers left, (in panic), aborting their mission to cart away ballot materials ….”   Barr. Wike acknowledged this when he said “God used protest by Ogu/Bolo Women to secure my 2019 Election”.  Ogu is an Ijaw land. 

    “Worst thing happened in Abonnema, also an Ijaw land, when young promising young boys lost their lives during the 2019 elections in the defence of Barr. Wike, when there was a shoot out between them and soldiers. 

    “There was no time the Ijaws asked Wike to bow down and worship them all through his 8 years as Governor of the State. This was because they did it for justice.

    “After the election, the Ijaws who control about 10 of the 23 LGAs in the State, had to rally round Wike to make his govt succeed.  At the height of Wike’s disagreement with Amaechi, the Ijaws had to rally around him as the dominant ethnic group in the state and fortified his hold on power.   

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    “This was partly during his return election in 2019 in which the APC fielded one of the most formidable candidates in the person of an Ijaw man, multi-billionaire businessman, Tonye Cole, son of Chief Dr. Patrick Dele Cole.  Again, other prominent Ijaw sons such as Dumo Lulu Briggs, Engr. Biokpomabo Awara also presented themselves in other political parties but this time the situation with the federal level became very tough. 

    “Yet, the entire Ijaw under our leadership backed Wike.  At this time, you became part of the system and I know as an Ijaw man you played a role in Okrika to help Wike to stay in power.   

    “My dear son you are an Ijaw man from Ogu. Did the people of Ogu lord it over Barr. Nyesom Wike because they fought to make him Governor? 

    “What you and your fellows are doing is sacrificing the Ijaw soul on the platter of political patronage. Think again!

    “Coming to the 2023 elections in Rivers State, I must confess that a few meetings were convened in my house on the imperative of producing an Ijaw governor which is a legitimate and proper aspiration of our people.  Fortunately, the APC, Labour Party and almost all others produced Ijaw candidates. 

    “Within the PDP, over 10 very highly qualified Ijaw sons, including the present SSG, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, a PhD holder in private and public law and a former Minister of Sports.  In his fundamental right to make a choice, Wike preferred to support Siminalayi Fubara as Governor of the State. Recall that Barr. Wike mocked and even taunted you, when you declared interest to contest for governorship of the State. Fortunately, his choice worked for this our son to become governor.

    “Let me state that if he did not bring an Ijaw son as Governor, PDP would have lost woefully in Rivers State and an Ijaw son from any of the other political parties would have still won.  It was therefore in his own self interest that he brought Siminalayi Fubara.  Nobody can say that the emergence was overdue and taken for granted already. 

    “I am therefore at loss when I listened to your narrative regarding the unimaginable extent to which Wike has helped the Ijaw people. On the contrary, perhaps unknown to you, Wike has been the number one beneficiary of the goodwill of the Ijaw people.  Throughout his political life, he has benefited from the help of the Ijaws. 

    “That is why his disagreement with Siminalayi Fubara whom he had picked over and above all our other sons and daughters, is quite sad and at times, disturbing. It is not a fight between the Ijaws and other groups.  No, because this fight is actually about what is right and proper. He epitomised the so-called godfather-godson syndrome. 

    “This is why in this his fight with Siminalayi Fubara, some of the most active voices and supporters of the Governor are not Ijaws but actually from Wike’s own Ikwere, Ogoni and other ethnic groups. Sir Peter Odili (Ndoni), Sen. Andrew Uchendu (Ikwerre), Sen. Ben Birabi (Ogoni), Sen Lee Maeba (Ogoni), Sir Celestine Omehia (Ikwerre), Rt. Hon. Austin Opara (Ikwerre), just to mention a few, have all spoken against the highhandedness of Barr. Wike.  

    “He is not the first person to have been a major political actor and later come to the centre.  Many of us were key political powerbrokers in our states and came to the centre, yet shun suffocating godfatherism roles as much as possible.  In the present government of President Tinubu there are several former governors who in one way or the other, helped Governors to win in their states. We have the Minister of National Planning, Minister of Police Affairs, Minister of Defence, Minister of Works, while others are occupying top positions in the Senate. Yet, this type of highhanded suffocation on successors is not seen.   

    “Since you and your colleagues are close associates of Wike and are ready to go to any extent to promote his image which has now become totally dented at the national scene, it is time to advise him to face his work in Abuja and leave the governor to do his work.   In my over 70 years in public life. I have been a crusader for what is true, right and just. 

    “It is too late for me at this stage to withdraw from that my commitment and will continue to fight for justice and rule of law in Rivers State.  I would therefore advise you as a politician still in your prime to learn to follow right causes and learn from history.  If anything, Wike owes his political life to about four people.  

    “Sen. John Mbata and Sen. Andrew Uchendu (who recommended him to Sir Peter Odili to be made Local Government Chairman), Sir Peter Odili, Chief Rotimi Amaechi and above all these people, Mrs. Patience Jonathan and her husband, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.  Unfortunately, today, all of these eminent persons that fed him are no longer in talking terms with him. 

    “My dear son, have you and your fellow members of the support for Wike induced newly formed Ijaw Peoples Congress, thought of the character of the person you want to “adopt as a son”? Let me at this juncture, with kind permission of Richard Akinola, refresh your mind on what the average Nigerian thinks of Barr. Nyesom Wike. 

    “Wike is only loyal to himself and nobody else, irrespective of his feigned allegiance. He may kowtow and genuflect before a political leader, as he is currently doing in Abuja but once he can no longer use you, he goes into a fit of incoherent vituperative verbal assault, denigrating his benefactors.

    “Almost everything that Nyesom Wike had said in public has been repudiated by him (Nyesom Wike is indeed a man of contradiction and inconsistencies). 

    “From the PDP primaries where he vowed to support whosoever emerged as candidate, to his vow not to be minister, to his scathing excoriation of the APC which he likened to a cancerous party, everything Wike supposedly stood for have been repudiated by his fickle mindedness.”    

  • Rivers crisis: LGA chairman vows to remain in office after expiration of tenure

    Rivers crisis: LGA chairman vows to remain in office after expiration of tenure

    The executive chairman of Ikwerre local government area of Rivers State, Samuel Nwanosike, has said he will not vacate office after the expiration of his tenure on June 17.

    Nwanosike said his decision was in obedience to the newly amended state local government law, which gave the council’s elected officials six-month extension if the state governor failed to conduct local government elections.

    The state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, had vetoed the past amendment, but the Speaker Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly passed it into law after 30 days.

    The chairman’s threat, however, came against the recent judgment of the state High Court, which declared the new amendment unconstitutional, null and void, and of no effect.

    The court’s judgment also declared the six-month tenure elongation provided for in the new amendment as invalid.

    Read Also: Rivers crisis: Damagun will return sacked APC lawmakers to Assembly, says G60 lawmakers

    The court’s judgment was based on a suit filed by the chairmen of Bonny and Opobo/Nkoro local government areas seeking nullification of the new law.

    In the judgment, Justice Diaketima Kio held that the Amaewhule-led House of Assembly overreached itself and that its actions were contrary to the provisions of the amended Nigerian Constitution.

    Nwanosike was, however, seen in a viral video making the remarks while addressing his constituents at a function in Ikwerre.

    He referred to the amendment to the law by the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly as the law of Nigeria.

    He said: “If Martin Amaewhule says that because the governor of Rivers State failed in his duty to conduct Local Government elections, and that I, Dr Nwanosike Samuel Osoruchi, by the oath of office I took and the certificate of return I was issued when I contested my second tenure election, that we should remain in office, so shall we remain in office”.

    He said anyone interested in occupying his office at the expiration of his tenure should show his face.

  • Rivers crisis: Appeal court fixes May 29 to rule on stay of execution of judgement barring Amaewhule, others

    Rivers crisis: Appeal court fixes May 29 to rule on stay of execution of judgement barring Amaewhule, others

    The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has fixed May 29 to rule on an application for a stay of execution of the order of the Rivers State High Court obtained against the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly by the Victor Oko-Jumbo factional Assembly.

    The Court of Appeal also granted an ex-parte application in the suit brought before it by Amaewhule & 24 Ors Vs Jumbo & 5 ors.

    The three man panel further granted a motion ex-parte that notice of appeal, records of appeal, motion and other processes in the appeal be served on the respondents by substituted means.

    The appeal was brought against the decision of the state High Court sitting in Port Harcourt barring the lawmakers led by Speaker, Martins Amaewhule from further sitting as members of the state House of Assembly.

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    The court presided over by Justice C.N. Wali, gave the order in a suit filed by the factional Speaker, Victor Oko-Jumbo and two other pro-Governor Siminialayi Fubara lawmakers, Sokari Goodboy and Orubienimigha Timothy.

    The suit listed 25 lawmakers as 1st to 25th defendants and the governor of Rivers State, the Attorney-General and the Chief Judge of the state as 26th to 28th defendants.

    Ruling on a motion ex-parte, the court also stopped the governor, the attorney-general and the Chief Judge from interacting with the affected lawmakers.

    The order specifically asked the lawmakers to stop parading themselves as members of the House of Assembly or conducting any legislative business as members of the House.

    The court also ordered them to stop sitting at the auditorium of the House of Assembly quarters located along Aba road or any other place whatsoever to conduct the business as members of the House of Assembly.

  • Rivers crisis: I’m not distracted as FCT minister – Wike

    Rivers crisis: I’m not distracted as FCT minister – Wike

    …says Tinubu will start commissioning FCT projects May 27

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike has disclosed that he is not distracted by the political saga in Rivers State.

    Wike said if he was distracted by the crisis, many projects ready for commissioning in FCT would not be possible.

    There are several insinuations making the rounds that Wike is distracted and he is not focusing on his job as the FCT minister with the current political crisis in Rivers state.

    Read Also: Rivers crisis: Worgu, Abe defend Wike’s integrity

    The minister, who was the immediate past governor of Rivers state, said on Friday, May 17, in Abuja while inspecting some key projects ready for commissioning by President Bola Tinubu, starting from May 27 to mark his one-year in office.

    Wike said: “I am not distracted as FCT minister. If I’m distracted you will not see all these projects in FCT.”

    According to him, Tinubu will be commissioning projects which will last for nine days in FCT.

    Details shortly…

  • Wade into Rivers crisis, Bode George urges PDP elders

    Wade into Rivers crisis, Bode George urges PDP elders

    Chief Olabode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has appealed to the party’s elders and stakeholders to intervene in the political crisis rocking Rivers.

    George, a PDP Board of Trustees (BOT) member, who made the appeal in a statement in Lagos, said intervention of PDP elders was imperative to stop the crisis from becoming ” a national conflagration”.

    He also urged President Bola Tinubu not to see the crisis as a PDP matter,asking him to intervene to avert breakdown of law and order in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the State House of Assembly has been
    polarised since 2023 following the rift between Fubara and Mr Nyesom Wike,Minister, Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The crisis, which has led to several threats to impeach the governor, assumed a new dimension on Wednesday when lawmakers loyal to Fubara appointed a factional speaker of the House of Assembly.

    Lawmakers loyal to Wike had recently defected to APC.

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    Reacting, George said the crisis in Rivers was a time bomb waiting to explode.

    Insisting that the oil-rich state belongs to PDP, George advised that nobody should sit on the fence and pretend as if everything was okay.

    He said Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution states that a member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if ” being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political Party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected”,

    George said that all the PDP lawmakers who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) had automatically lost their seats.

    The PDP chieftain said: “They are in no position to threaten Governor Fubara. So, their plot to commence impeachment proceedings against the governor is already in vain.

    “Rivers people belong to PDP. Those threatening to impeach the governor are being remote-controlled by some forces.

    “This must stop because if Rivers is set on fire today, that may end this democracy.

    “We should remember ‘Operation Wetie’ which started in the defunct Western Region and eventually consumed the nation and ended the First Republic in 1966.

    “All the actors in this crisis in Rivers should avoid actions likely to cause breach of peace and breakdown of law and order in our country.”

    According to him, members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party should be the elders in the room, act swiftly and nip this crisis in the bud before it consumes everybody.

    He said that all the gladiators should also think of the collective interest of Nigerians.

    “Whether we are members of PDP, APC or other parties, we should stop issuing provocative statements to increase the tension in Rivers.

    “Any move that can truncate this democracy must be stopped immediately. Enough is enough,” he said..

    (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

  • Rivers crisis deepens as police take over assembly quarters

    Rivers crisis deepens as police take over assembly quarters

    • Court restrains 27 lawmakers from sitting, acting as legislators

    • Fubara gazettes order relocating Assembly to Govt House

    • Governor’s actions, utterances fueling impeachment moves – APC

    The police authorities yesterday deployed about 30 armed policemen to protect the official quarters of members of the Rivers State House of Assembly on Aba Road, Port Harcourt.

    The move was apparently in response to an allegation by the pro-Wike factional Speaker of the House Martins Amaewhule, that the complex had been penciled down for demolition by Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

    The deployment of the policemen to the quarters came on a day a Rivers State High Court barred the 27 lawmakers led by Amaewhule from further sitting as legislators for the state, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) branded some of the actions and utterances of the governor as an invitation to impeachment.

    And following reports of the plenary sitting of the pro-Wike legislators yesterday, Governor Fubara took action, relocating the House of Assembly to the Auditorium, Admin Block of the Government House, Port Harcourt.

    The state government made public Executive Order 001 of December 14, 2023, giving effect to the relocation.

    The policemen were seen yesterday manning the estate’s two gates.

    They had about 30 patrol vans which were parked in and around the gates.

    But there was no restriction on people from going in or coming out of the estate.

    The pro-Wike legislators raised the alarm about alleged planned demolition soon after a visit to the complex on Thursday by the governor.

    Amaewhule said while other state governors were busy working on how to improve the well being of their people, Fubara was looking for structures to demolish.

    But the governor said there was nothing to his visit to the complex.

    “Is the Assembly quarters not part of my property? Is there anything wrong in going to check how things are going on there?” he shot back at reporters who had asked him about his mission.

    He added: “You are aware of the developments. We have a new speaker, and I went there to see for myself how things are. There might be a few things I might want to do there for the good of our people.”

    It was learnt that following the alarm raised by Amaewhule, the anti-Fubara lawmakers including some chieftains of the APC, kept vigil around the estate till daybreak.

    Reacting to the deployment of the policemen to the complex yesterday, a pro-Fubara group – Sim Media Volunteers (SMV) – asked the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to monitor activities of his officers in the state and ensure they observed the rules of engagement.

    The Convener of the group, Frank Kilsi, alleged the arrest and intimidation of the governor’s supporters by the police, saying the development could lead to anarchy.

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    “We call on the Inspector-General of Police to rein in his men and exercise restraint by stopping the unnecessary attack or wanton arrest on any of the governor’s supporters, as further harassment could lead to anarchy and breakdown of law and order that may not do our state any good,” Kilsi said in Port Harcourt yesterday.

    He pleaded with stakeholders including political leaders, traditional institutions and law enforcement agencies, to ensure that the rights and freedom of the people are upheld and protected at all times.

    He told those he called the sore losers of the inglorious October 30, 2023 impeachment plot against the governor to “stop their callous, mischievous and barefaced sabotage and evil against the governor and his government.”

    Kilsi expressed support for the factional Speaker, Victor Oko-Jumbo, and Leader, Sokari Goodboy, describing their emergence as a welcome development in the journey to liberate Rivers from bondage.

    He said: “Indeed, true redemption has begun in Rivers State and we shall stand firm as youths of our dear state to support the new leadership of the House and the indefatigable governor of Rivers State.”

    APC chair solidarises with pro-Wike lawmakers

    The Caretaker Committee (CTC) chairman of the APC in the state, Chief Tony Okocha, yesterday visited the principal officers of the legislature loyal to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom.Wike, and pledged the support of the party for them in their ongoing face-off with the governor.

    He tasked them to remain focused on their duties as legislators and continue to make good laws for the people of the state.

    “It wasn’t a ‘waka pass’ mission but deliberate visitation,” he told reporters.

    “I watched on television how the Chief law breaker of Rivers State, Governor Sim, forced himself in a Gestapo and commando style with gun trotting official and unofficial security men into the residence of assembly members yesterday (Thursday), intimidating and harassing and sending scares on the children and residents of the beautiful edifice built with tax payers’ money and commissioned.

    “I went to check up with them and to assure them of the unwavering support of the APC Rivers.

    “I continued with the charge that they should remain fixated in the business of making good laws for the state and never yield to any form of intimidation from any quarter.”

    He confirmed that no harm befell any of the lawmakers and their family members following the visit.

    “Of course, I counted and none was lost.”

    He was accompanied by Amaewhule.

    Legislators ask Tinubu to call governor to order

    The pro-Wike legislators, at a plenary session at the auditorium of the Assembly quarters yesterday, decried what they described as the autocratic style of Fubara in running the affairs of the state.

    They asked President Bola Tinubu to put an end to alleged anti-democratic actions of the governor.

    Amaewhule’s media aide, Martin Wachukwu, quoted the Majority Leader, Major Jack, as accusing Fubara of planning to demolish the recently built Assembly Quarters.

    Members were said to have listed what they called the tyrannical actions of the governor beginning with the burning of the Chamber of the Assembly, demolition of the Assembly Complex, attack on the official residence of the Speaker, withholding of Local Government Councils Fund and withholding of Assembly Service Commission Fund.

    Members described such actions of the governor as despotic and pleaded with all well-meaning people of Rivers State and the President of the country to call the Governor to order.

    Amaewhule in particular described the invasion of the Assembly by Governor Fubara as vexatious, claiming that the governor had conducted himself in a dictatorial manner.

    He said people were wondering if the governor appreciated the import of the independence of the three arms of government as enshrined in the constitution.

    Amaewhule charged members to stand firm and fight for the survival of democracy in the state and to resist ethnic division under any guise.

    The House resolved to write to the British High Commission, the American Embassy, the European Union and the United Nations to intimate them of the alleged tyrannical disposition of Fubara towards the Rivers State House of Assembly.

    Members of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Rivers State chapter, led by the Chairman of Port Harcourt City Council, Allwell Nwunwor, appeared before the House on the invitation of the House Committee on Local Government.

    They narrated the plight of the local government chairmen, saying their monthly allocations had been withheld by the Governor in breach of Section 162(7) and (8) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria1999 as altered.

    The council chairmen said that the unlawful seizure of councils’ funds had resulted in increase in crime and criminality in the various LGAs because they were bereft of needed funds to tackle serious security matters.

    The chairmen prayed the House to come to the aid of the councils, lamenting that the administration at the third tier of government had been strangulated on the directives of the governor.

    Remarking on the Complaints of the Council Chairmen, Amaewhule stated that the provisions of Section 7 of the Constitution of Nigeria, and the Rivers State Local Government Law, 2024, do not confer on the governor any direct control over the day to day administration of the councils.

    He said Fubara’s action were inimical to all known democratic symbols and ethos.

    The Speaker added that Fubara had no respect for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all that he represented, given his anti-democratic comments and allusions.

    The House resolved to take all necessary steps to ensure that the seized funds were released, including writing to the banks not to have any financial dealings with anybody on behalf of the Local Government Councils without the authorisation of the council chairmen.

    Fubara gazettes Order 001 relocating House of Assembly sitting to Government House

    The gazette cited the burning of the chamber of the House of Assembly on October 29th, 2023 as the reason for the relocation.

    Fubara said the current state of the chamber was unsafe and constituted a threat to the lives of the staff and members of the House of Assembly.

    He said it was expedient to carry out urgent repairs, renovation and reconstruction of the burnt and damaged chambers of the House of Assembly.

    He added that it was reasonable to ensure that the proceedings of the House of Assembly were not impeded and frustrated.

    He said: “Now, therefore, I, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, the Governor of Rivers State, this 30th Day of October, 2023, pursuant to the powers vested in me under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria hereby issue, order and direct that all proceedings and business of the Rivers State House of Assembly shall temporarily take place at the auditorium, Admin Block, Government House, Port Harcourt, until the repairs, renovation and reconstruction of the chambers of Rivers State House of Assembly.”

    Court stops pro-Wike lawmakers from sitting, acting as legislators

    Justice C.N. Wali, gave the order while ruling on a motion ex-parte filed by the newly elected factional Speaker, Victor Oko-Jumbo and two other pro-Governor Siminialayi Fubara lawmakers, Sokari Goodboy and Orubienimigha Timothy.

    Listed as defendants in the substantive suit are 25 lawmakers, the governor of Rivers State, the Attorney-General and the Chief Judge of the state.

    The court also stopped the governor, the attorney-general and the Chief Judge from interacting with the affected lawmakers.

    The order specifically asked the lawmakers to stop parading themselves as members of the House of Assembly or conducting any legislative business as members of the House.

    The court also ordered them to stop sitting at the auditorium of the House of Assembly quarters located on Aba Road or any other place whatsoever to conduct the business as members of the House of Assembly.

    The court said: “An order of interim injunction is granted restraining the 1st to 25th defendants from parading and holding out themselves as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and or meeting sitting at the auditorium of the House of Assembly quarters located at off Aba Road, Port Harcourt or any other place whatsoever to purport to carry out the legislative business of the Rivers State House of Assembly their legislative seats having been declared vacant pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

    “An order of interim injunction is hereby made restraining the 26th to 28th defendants from dealing with, interfacing, accepting any resolution, bills and or however interacting with the 1st to 25th defendants in the purported capacities as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly their legislative seats having been declared vacant with effect from 13th December 2023 pending the hearing and determination of motion on notice.”

    The court further directed that the order, the motion on notice and other processes be served on the 1st to 25th defendants within seven days by substituted means.

    The court adjourned to the 29th of May for the motion on notice.

    The lawmakers affected by the order are Martin Amaewhule, Dumle Maol, Major Jack, Franklin Nwabochi, Christopher Ofiks, Azeru Okpara, Enemi George, Granville Wellington, Ngbar Bernard, John Iderema, Queen Uwuma Williams, Loolo Opuende, Abbey Peter, Igwe Aforji, Justina Emeji, Ignatius Onwuka, Chimzie Nwankwo, Lemchi Nyeche, Barile Nwakoh, Emilia Amadi, Nkemjika Ezekwe, David Okobiriari, Nwankwo Sylvanus, Gerald Oforji and Wami Solomon.

    Yesterday’s interim injunction restraining the 27 pro-Wike legislators from further sitting as legislators for the state is the latest in the long list of litigations triggered by the face-off between the Wike camp and the Fubara camp.

    In January, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had restrained Fubara and the state government from invading, interfering or stopping the lawmakers from holding meetings, or accessing the Rivers State House of Assembly complex.

    The court also voided the presentation of the 2024 Appropriation Bill by Fubara before a four-member legislature led by Edison Ehie. It also declared invalid the reposting and redeployment of the clerk and deputy clerk of the state House of Assembly.

    It  declared that the governor was not entitled to invite the National Assembly (NASS) to take over the Rivers State House of Assembly and that the NASS lacked  powers to do so in the instant case.

    Similarly, it restrained the National Assembly from accepting, entertaining or dealing with the request from Fubara to take over the legislative function of the state Assembly.

    He further issued an order of mandatory injunction compelling the Inspector General of Police to protect and provide adequate security and protection to the Speaker and other members of the state assembly.

    The court upheld the submission of the Rivers State House of Assembly and Amaewhule that the four-member faction to which the budget was presented was not the authentic leadership of the Rivers Assembly by law.

    The judge said: “The presentation of the bill is void and deemed not to have been presented, passed into law” since it was presented to an unconstitutional six out of the 31 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, in flagrant disobedience of an order of court.”

    The state assembly and Amaewhule had, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1613/2023, challenged an alleged plan by the National Assembly to take over their legislative duties in the state.

    They had specifically accused Fubara of inviting the National Assembly to take over the state’s legislative functions in a bid to stop his impeachment by the lawmakers.

    Observing that there was no evidence before the court to show that the Rivers Assembly could no longer sit or carry out its legislative duties, the judge described as an academic exercise the issue of action notice raised by the appellants.

    APC to Fubara: Don’t be despot-in-chief of Rivers Assembly

    The national leadership of the APC yesterday took a swipe at Fubara for declaring the 27 House of Assembly members who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC non-existent.

    The APC said the governor’s statement smacked of lawlessness and repudiation of the Constitution.

    Addressing newsmen in Abuja, APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka warned Fubara against turning himself into “despot-in-chief of the Rivers State House of Assembly.”

    He said: “The Governor has unlawfully withheld local governments’ funds as a punitive measure against perceived opponents, and only recently, directed that all heads and officials of the 23 Local Government Areas should ignore the summons of the State Assembly as he threatened to sack officials who flouted his directive.

    “Governor Fubara cannot abrogate the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He cannot be governor and be despot-in-chief of the Rivers state House of Assembly at the same time.

    “Attempting to impose an illegal 3-man House of Assembly is executive lawlessness in the extreme. Governor Fubara’s quest to repudiate the Constitution and govern in denial of the existence of the state legislature is, in and of itself, among other grounds, an impeachable offence.

    “We strongly counsel Governor Fubara to submit himself to the dictates of the Constitution and the rule of law. In any and all contests between Governor Fubara and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Constitution shall prevail, always.

    “The good people of Rivers state deserve so much more than the seemingly unending chicanery of Governor Fubara.”

    On Fubara’s declaration that the House of Assembly was non-existent on account of the defection of the 27 members from PDP to APC, Morka maintained that the governor was sorely misled.

    Continuing, he said: “Contrary to PDP’s assertions, it is not APC that is calling for the impeachment of Governor Fubara. Rather, by his egregious actions, conduct and infantile comments, Fubara is actively and vehemently precipitating his own impeachment.

    “Governor Fubara’s declaration that the Rivers State House of Assembly does not exist is not only reckless, it is a direct affront to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “The House of Assembly is a creation of the Constitution, and vested with the legislative authority of the state. The members of the Assembly were elected by the good people of Rivers State in the same manner that Fubara was elected Governor.

    “The Assembly does not exist at the Governor’s pleasure or fanciful whims. The legislature is at the core of the idea of democracy. It is co-equal with the executive and judicial arms of government.

    “The constitutionally entrenched principle of separation of powers among the three arms of government guarantees essential checks and balances required to ensure observance of the rule of law. The rule of law is indispensable to democracy and constitutional order.

    “If his declaration that the House of Assembly is non-existent is based on the fact that the 27 members who decamped from PDP to APC have lost their seats, then Governor Fubara is sorely misled.

    “To be clear, the 27 Assembly members did not lose their membership of the Assembly by virtue of their decampment. There is nothing homeostatic about Section 109(1)(g) of the Constitution. It is not self-executing. The Proviso to the said Section 109(1) (g) established exceptional grounds to the applicability of Section 109(1)(g)

    “Section 109(1) states: A member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if – (S.109(1)(g) – being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before expiration of the period for which that House was elected:

    “Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.”

    Morka then argued that only a court of law that can make a determination as to whether a member of the House of Assembly has vacated his seat in accordance with that provision of the Constitution.

    “As no such judicial determination has been made, the 27 APC members of the House of Assembly remain the constitutionally recognised and authorised members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.”

    Adangor lied against Fubara, Rivers govt blasts Wike’s loyalist

     Also yesterday, the Rivers State Government described as a tissue of lies claims by the immediate past Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor, SAN, that he resigned his position because Governor Fubara asked him to institute a legal action challenging President Tinubu’s eight-point resolution on the crisis rocking the state.

    Information and Communication Commissioner, Warisenibo Joe Johnson described Adangor’s statement as deliberate falsehood and an afterthought.

    Adangor, a Wike loyalist, resigned his position soon after Fubara reassigned him to the Ministry of Special Duties.

    Adangor had said he became a target when he refused to obey the governor’s directive to challenge the Presidential Proclamation on Rivers crisis.

    But Johnson said yesterday that the allegation was false.

    He said: “It is a clear fact that is already in the public domain that Mr. Adangor SAN personally stated in his letter of resignation on Ministry of Justice letterhead dated 24th April, 2024 upon his redeployment as Commissioner for Special Duties (Governor’s Office), wherein he said that he was not going to be reassigned, and added falsely that the Governor was interfering with his work.

    “It is, therefore, so surprising that instead of clearing himself of the open declaration by His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, that he (Adangor, SAN), is a saboteur, the learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria has whimsically resorted to cheap blackmail and barefaced falsehood.

    “One would have expected the Senior Advocate of Nigeria to respond to that weighty accusation to clear his name and tainted image, instead of the resort to afterthought of twisting the facts, simply to divert attention”.

    Johnson said that it was public knowledge that going by the governor’s antecedents, he could not have interfered with the work of the former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice nor instigated Prof. Adangor to initiate any legal process against the President for his intervention in the Rivers State political crisis orchestrated by “those who are hell bent on playing God” in the state.

    He said: “This is because we have the facts on why Prof. Zaccheus Adangor, SAN hastily resigned from the State Executive Council when it was discovered the type of person he is.

    “Most shocking is that as a professor of law, Prof. Adangor used frivolously the official letterhead of Ministry of Justice, which was not to be, to write his letter of resignation instead of his personal letter heading.

    “We, therefore, use this medium to challenge Professor Zaccheus Adangor, SAN, to come clean by telling Rivers people, and indeed the world the truth, the whole truth and the only truth about his escapades. Opinions are free, but facts are sacred.”

    Rivers PDP crisis getting out of hands, says George

    Reviewing the Rivers State crisis yesterday, especially as it affects the PDP, a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George, called on elders and other stakeholders to immediately intervene in the conflict “before it becomes a national conflagration.”

    Speaking in Lagos, George also asked President Tinubu not to treat with levity the threat by some members of the House of Assembly to impeach Governor Fubara.

    The party elder, who described oil-bearing Rivers as one of the strongholds of the PDP, said the oil-bearing state belongs to PDP, adding that nobody should sit on the fence and pretend as if everything is okay.

    George argued that under the law, the PDP lawmakers who defected to the APC have automatically lost their seats “and they are in no position to threaten Governor Fubara. So, their plot to commence impeachment proceedings against the governor is already in vain.

    He said: “Rivers people belong to PDP. Those threatening to impeach the governor are being remote-controlled by some forces. This must stop because if Rivers is set on fire today, that may end this democracy.

    “We should remember ‘Operation Wetie’ which started in the defunct Western Region and eventually consumed the nation and ended the First Republic in 1966.

    “All the actors in this crisis in Rivers should avoid actions likely to cause breach of peace and breakdown of law and order in our country.”

    George added: “Members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of our party should be the elders in the room, act swiftly and nip this crisis in the bud before it consumes everybody.

    “All the gladiators should also think of the collective interests of Nigerians.

    “Whether we are members of PDP, APC or other parties, we should stop issuing provocative statements to increase the tension in Rivers. Any move that can truncate this democracy must be stopped immediately. Enough is enough.”

  • Rivers crisis: Peace at last?

    Rivers crisis: Peace at last?

    The resignation of Edison Ehie as the factional Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly has paved the way for the resolution of the political crisis in Rivers State. Prior to his resignation, the political strongman Ehie, who represented Ahoada East Constituency II was seen as the stumbling block in the implementation of the eight-point peace accord initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and endorsed by all stakeholders including Governor Siminialayi Fubara.

    Despite playing a central role in the crisis, Ehie’s interest was no captured in the peace agreement. He has been the backbone of Fubara and the governor’s trusted strategist. The governor heavily depended him to maneuver Rivers sudden descent to political conundrum. He was said to be the brains behind most of the desperate measures taken by the governor to survive a failed plot to impeach him. Ehie filed some legal actions against the Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly including securing a court to act as the Speaker of the House despite leading only four pro-Fubara lawmakers.

    It was learnt that after Fubara, whose disposition has been to maintain and sustain the peace in Rivers, had vowed to implement the agreement, his major headache was how to placate his backbone, Ehie. The governor knew that implementing the agreement without recourse to Ehie’s interest would mean sacrificing the former lawmaker and driving a death nail to his political career. It would also mean losing the confidence of most of his supporters, who would consider him a betrayal.

    The governor also did not want to offend President Tinubu by not implementing the peace accord to satisfy the interest of Ehie and his supporters. Therefore, Ehie was convinced to resign his position as a member of the House. His resignation has automatically nullified all the suits he filed at the court as he had lost the locus to pursue them. It has also invalidated the letter he wrote to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaring the seats of the 26 lawmakers, who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) vacant and calling bye-elections to fill their positions. Bye-elections would now be the fill Ehie’s vacant seat and the seat of the dead lawmaker.

    Indeed, Ehie’s resignation has become a masterstroke in implementing the rest parts of the peace accord. It is obvious that Ehie had been promised higher political position in exchange for his sacrifice. There are indications that the governor would make him his chief of staff. But Fubara can only do that after sacking his incumbent Chief of Staff, Chidi Amadi, who is a kinsman to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. There is no evidence that Amadi was among Wike’s loyalists, who resigned their appointments in Fubara’s cabinet amidst the crisis.

    Ehie titled his letter, “Notice of Resignation as Speaker and Member Representing Ahoada-East Constituency II in the 10th Rivers State House of Assembly.

    The letter said: “This is to formally notify you of my voluntary resignation as Speaker and member of the 10th Rivers State House of Assembly representing Ahoada-East Constituency II with effect from the date of this letter.

    “I wish to deeply appreciate my colleagues and the people of my Constituency for the rare opportunity to serve and hope to continue to give my utmost best in service to Rivers State subsequently”.

    Rivers Crisis: the Genesis

    The sudden crisis that enveloped the once peaceful political family of Wike  shocked many onlookers.  Though many people predicted that the peace would not last, they were bemused by the sudden outbreak of the chaos. Unknown to many, the impasse existed underground and even led to reported attempts by Fubara to resign his position. The crisis only reared its ugly head in public  on October 30th when unidentified nocturnal arsonists bombed the hallowed chamber of the assembly.

    The bombing followed a suspicion that the lawmakers had concluded a plot to sit the next day and begin the impeachment process of Fubara.

    Security agencies and the fire service in the state battled the inferno and put it out but before then the fire had consumed the entire chamber.

    Obviously, those, who designed the bombing of the hallowed chamber thought it would stop the House from sitting to actualise its.plot.  They had reasoned that if the House were denied its right to sit, it would weaken its alleged plot to remove the governor. But the adamant House moved its sitting from the torched hallowed chamber to the conference hall within the assembly complex located at Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.

    Therefore, bombing did not deter the lawmakers from sitting to carry out their threat. They sat the next day at the conference hall of the assembly complex, removed the Leader of the House, Edison Ehie, suspended two other lawmakers and issued an impeachment notice to the governor.

    Chains of reactions commenced in the oil-rich state. Accompanied by few security details, Fubara visited the scene of the bombing. The governor accused some police personnel of plotting to kill him after he was attacked with teargas canisters and was drenched in water sprinkled by the police. But the police later denied the accusation.

    Following the alarm raised by the governor that there was a plot by the Rivers State House of Assembly led by Speaker Martins Amaewhule to impeach him, youths particularly from the Ijaw extraction barricaded the entrance to the Government House  and vowed to resist any plan to remove the governor.

    The allegations immediately changed the political landscape of the state and drove the Fubara’s camp to adopt desperate measures to save the governor. Edison Ehie, who was removed as the Leader of the House and three other lawmakers regrouped at the Government House, held their sitting there and announced that Ehie had been elected the new Speaker of the House.

    The House of Assembly was odiously split into two, comprising 27 lawmakers led by Amaewhule and four legislators led by Ehie. While Ehie adjourned the House sine die, the House continued to sit with Amaewhule as the Speaker.

    As the rumbling and tumbling continued in Rivers, the state elders intervened. The elders were said to have met all the actors involved in the conflict especially the immediate past Governor and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Chief Nyesom Wike and the governor. In their statement after the meeting, the elders blamed Fubara for misjudging the incident and urged him to undertake some steps to make peace with his benefactor.

    The intervention of the elders led to a moment of calmness in the state. Efforts were also made underground to resolve the impasse. Within the period of momentary peace, Wike and Fubara attended a religious event where Fubara described the Minister as his oga. But their public utterances after the event showed that peace was still in abeyance.

    Read Also: Rivers crisis: ‘We will know who is in charge when time comes’, Wike says, realigns with Giadom

    To secure the office of the governor, Ehie and Fubara filed two separate suits and got orders restraining the Amaewhule House of Assembly from sitting and impeaching the governor. But a few days later, another court order emerged showing that Amaewhule had vacated the previous orders against their sitting.

    In obedience to the new order,  the Amaewhule’s Assembly j held a valedictory session in honour of the late lawmaker representing Khana Constituency 2, Denobari Lolo.

    But in a shocking move, the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly dumped their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The defections turned the traditional PDP assembly to an APC-controlled House. Only four lawmakers of the 31-member House belong to the PDP.

    At the 87th legislative sitting, each of the members submitted their defection letters to the Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule.

    Their letters were read on the floor of the House and they all cited the division in the PDP caused by the tussle for the position of the National Secretary of the party as the reason for their defections. According to them such national crisis had robbed off on the state party making communication channels hazy and difficult.

    In their letters, they insisted that the uncertainty surrounding the position of the National Secretary resulted to many court cases filed against the PDP by its members. They argued that the development had caused sharp division in PDP adding that they could no longer remain in such party.

    The defiant lawmakers sang the on-your-mandate anthem of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and brandished the flags of the APC. Many of them continually shouted “Jagaban” throughout the process as they posed for a group photograph, boarded their vehicles and left the assembly complex.

    The defection widened the wound. While they were basking in the euphoria of their defections, the state High Court sitting in Port Harcourt issued an order transferring the powers of the Speaker to Ehie and stopping Amaewhule-led House from sitting. The order was a deadly blow.

    The court presided over by Justice M.W Danagogo, gave the order in an experte motion filed by the first claimant, Rivers State House of Assembly and the Second Claimant,  Edison Ehie, who identified himself as the Speaker of the House.

    The court in an Interim order granted the first prayer and ordered Amaewhule and others to stop using the assembly premise for their sitting pending the renovation of the facility.

    A day after the new order, the crisis assumed a dangerous dimension.  The state government bulldozed the state House of Assembly complex. Residents of the state woke up in the morning to behold the multi-billion naira complex constructed by former Governor Peter Odili destroyed by earth-moving equipment.

    About 10 bulldozers were mobilised to the area to bring down some of the buildings especially the hallowed chamber, which was hitherto attacked with dynamites by unknown arsonists.

    In the morning of the incident, the five lawmakers led by Edison Ehie, who was empowered by an order of the state High Court to assume the full responsibilities of the Speaker held a surprised sitting at the complex.

    Ehie declared that following the October 30th bomb attack on the complex, the area was no longer habitable for any legislative business.

    He told his colleagues that the complex required renovation and that the sitting of the assembly  would be relocated to any other convenient place to be provided by the state Governor.

    Shortly after Ehie adjourned the sitting and all the lawmakers departed the complex, about 10 bulldozers drove into the premises.

    The bulldozers commenced the demolition of the complex from the bombed chamber and the conference hall, where the other 27 lawmakers led by Speaker Martins Amaewhule were using for their sittings.

    While people believe that the governor ordered the demolition as a self-preservative measure to stop the 27 lawmakers from sitting to impeach him, the state government insisted it was carried out to allow for the renovation of the complex.

    The Rivers State Government insisted that it took the decision following the structural defects caused by the recent explosion and fire incident which rendered the main building unfit for human use.

    A statement issued by the Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Joseph Johnson, said after the visit of the governor to inspect the level of damage done to the building on the day of the fire incident, it became necessary to invite professionals to advice the government on the integrity of the building.

    The Commissioner said on the night of the attack on the complex, the dynamites caused an explosion that shook the foundation of the building. 

    “There were visible cracks on the walls afterwards, and the entire structure looked frail and unsafe for legislative business”, the statement said

    He added: “After the assessment of the integrity of the complex, the experts warned the government that continuing to use the building in its present state would be disastrous.

    Johnson noted that the government had tried all cost-saving measures towards repair of the complex until it bowed to superior view of rebuilding the complex to a more befitting edifice.

    “In the interim, the Rivers State Government has provided an alternative venue for the House of Assembly to conduct their affairs pending the rebuilding of the complex”, he said.

    Taking advantage of the window provided by the court order, Speaker Ehie and his group of lawmakers held a sitting at an unknown space allocated to them in Government House.

    They first elected the Leader of the House and proceeded to invite the governor to present the N800bn 2024 budget estimate approved by the state executive council. Fubara appeared before the lawmakers and presented his budget titled, “Budget of Renewed Hope, Consolidation and Continuity”

    In another shocking development, the governor signed the Appropriation Bill into law, a day after he presented the document to four lawmakers led by Ehie. Ehie said the bill was thoroughly considered and passed by the lawmakers.

    However, despite the demolition of the assembly complex, the 26 lawmakers led by Speaker Amaewhule still sat. They reconvened in a venue at the legislative quarters and held a plenary.

    A statement signed by Amaewhule’s Media Assistant, Martins Wachukwu, described the plenary as the 88th Legislative Sitting of the Assembly.

    The sitting was at the auditorium of the House of Assembly Quarters along Aba Road, Port Harcourt.

    The lawmakers adopted a motion to convert the Auditorium as its hallowed Chamber.

    The lawmakers passed the Rivers State House of Assembly Funds Management (Financial Autonomy)Bill, 2023. The House passed the bill after debating on the report of the House Committee on Public Accounts.

    The House also passed the Rivers State Local Government Law, No. 5 of  2018 (Amendment) Bill, 2023 after a  debate on the Report of the House Committee on Local Government, which was presented by the Chairman of the Committee, Ignatius Onwuka.

    They condemned in strong terms the demolition of the House of Assembly complex by Fubara without the approval and knowledge of the House describing the action as heartless and brazen.

    In a motion sponsored by 26 Members and moved by Ofiks Kabang, the member representing Andoni Constituency in the House, the lawmakers drew the attention of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Inspector-General of Police and the International community, to Fubara’s constant attack on the legislatue.

    Amaewhule hinted that the House would write to the United Nations and governments of other well-known democracies on the actions of the governor against the legislature.

    Amaewhule stressed that no amount of harassment, intimidation and mindless attacks against the legislature would make them shy away from their constitutional duties.

    The demolition undoubtedly deepened the animosity between the camp of Wike and Fubara and triggered mass exodus of Wike’s loyalists from the governor’s cabinet. In one fell swoop, 10 commissioners tendered their resignation letters.

    The Commissioners for Justice and Attorney-General, Zacchaeus Adangor; Works, Dr. George Kelly-Alabor; Special Duties, Emeka Woke; Special Welfare and Rehabilitation, Mrs. Inime Aguma; Finance, Isaac Kamalu; Transport, Dr. Jacobson Nbina; Environment, Austine Ben-Chioma and Housing, Dr. Gift Worlu, all left the cabinet.

    Undoubtedly, the crisis cast dark image to the polity, security and economy of the state. It immediately slowed down the governance of the state. The impasse, indeed, changed the trajectory of growth and development initially planned by the Wike’s political family. Wike had designed the Fubara’s administration to continue and consolidate on his giant strides. But the hullabaloo  divided the family and deviated it from its original dream.

    The crisis halted most of the planned activities to mark Fubara’s 100 days in office. It forced the governor to stop most of the inauguration and kick-off of projects designated to mark the event. The governor was.said to have almost quit his position. He reportedly wrote a resignation letter but was prevailed on by some PDP leaders to withdraw the letter. It also stopped the ongoing recruitment of workers into the civil service.

    The common saying that when two elephants fight, the grass will always suffer, became the lot of Rivers. The masses felt the negative impact of the crisis because most of the programmes and activities the people should have benefitted from were put on hold.

    Besides, there was general fear that the crisis if not checked could lead to the breakdown of law and order. Already during the day one of the crisis, violence broke out when the police rushed to the residence of Amaewhule to stop some aggrieved youths from forcefully breaking into the premises. Some of the youths sustained injuries and a youth was said to have died of bullet wounds. There was premonition of possible bloody clashes between the camps of the two gladiators

    A former Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dakuku Peterside, immediately warned that anarchy was looming in the state. Peterside said he watched  with shock, disgust, and disbelief the ugly descent into anarchy of governance and public affairs and the naked display of anti-democratic and anti-people actions by some political actors in Rivers.

    Dakuku said: “From the reported defection of 27 supposed Honourable members of Rivers State House of Assembly to the demolition of the permanent site of the Assembly complex for renovation, there is no better phrase to describe what my Rivers State has become other than a shameful state of anomie. We see there a ranked display of mockery of democracy and mindless destruction of everything democracy by the same people who should be defending it”.

    He said It was saddening that in the past few weeks, the peace, stability, and development of the state had been sacrificed on the altar of selfish political agenda, ego, and narrow interests of a few.

    He said: “It is clear from these political actors’ utterances and body language that the only goal dictating their actions is controlling the soul of Rivers State to the detriment of the state’s people. The people and their interests have been relegated to the background, whilst political jobbers hold the state on a knife-edge.

    “Many of our past patriotic leaders sacrificed a lot to build a peaceful, united, and prosperous Rivers State, which these handful of political actors seek to destroy. Rivers people would resist this brigandage, and I urge them to do so urgently. Posterity is going to judge all of us”.

    Dakuku called on President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to intervene and save Rivers from going up in flames warning that the state was gradually sliding into total anarchy.

    The Movement of Izon Ethnic Nationalities in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND) blamed the crisis on the activities of persons it described as the enemies of the state.

    The President-General of MOSIEND, Amb. Kennedy Tonjo-West, said such enemies were behind the scene fueling the crisis instead of appealing to the gladiators in the crisis to embrace peace and forgiveness.

    Tonjo-West, whose group cuts across all Ijaw communities in the country, called for peace, tolerance and forgiveness between the two parties insisting that crisis would only destabilise Rivers.

    He said any attempt to keep the state in perpetual political crisis was capable of chasing away investors and denying the state its benefits from the Federal Government.

    He warned that escalating the crisis could snowball into violent conflicts between the warring parties and further worsen the already prevailing economic woes.

    Tonjo-West said both the incumbent state Governor, Sir. Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor now the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had come a long way and should be able to amicably resolve their differences.

    Insisting that the situation was not intractable, he appealed to the duo to sheathe their swords for the overall interest of Rivers growth and development.

    Tonjo-West said removing an elected state governor in a democratic setting was a herculean task adding that such process could only erode investors’ confidence in the polity.

    He said: “Enemies of Rivers are stoking the crisis for the their selfish interests. MOSIEND believes that the problem is not intractable.

    “They can resolve their differences because both the incumbent Governor, Sir. Siminalayi Fubara and the former Governor who is now the FCT Minister, Chief Nyesom Wike, have come a long way. If they fail to resolve their differences, it means that they have failed Rivers.

    “The crisis of it persists may snowball into violent conflicts capable of causing bloodshed and setting Rivers backward. It will also erode investors’ confidence and worsened the already existing economic crisis. The earlier they resolve the crisis the better for the growth and development of Rivers”.

    Like Dakuku, other leaders appealed to President Tinubu to wade into the crisis and halt the impeding disaster in the state. Recently, in one of his outings in Rivers, Wike disclosed that the President had earlier in private meetings tried to settle the problem. He said after the private engagement proved abortive, President Tinubu decided to to call a meeting of major stakeholders in Abuja. He said persons criticising the peace deal were the same people, who wanted the President’s intervention.

    Like a father, Tinubu mediated and eight-point peace agreement was signed by all the gladiators including Fubara. Some stakeholders became angry and speculated that the governor did not sign the agreement. Elders led by former Governor Ada George called on the governor to renege on the agreement. In fact, various groups from across the state marched the streets of Port Harcourt and barricaded the entrance to Government House demanding Fubara to reject the agreement.

    But Fubara resisted the pressure. The governor could not stand his state slipped into anarchy. He should not be the reason why the blood of any Rivers resident would be shared. He chose to disappoint those spoiling for war in the interest of peace and development of Rivers. The governor confirmed that he signed the peace accord and expressed his willingness to implement it. He used every opportunity to harp on peace saying no price was too much to pay for peace

    Out of the eight-point resolution, two were immediately implemented one each from Fubara and the House of Assembly.

    While the Amaewhule-led House, a day after the meeting, implemented resolution two by withdrawing an impeachment notice it issued to the governor, Fubara during his Christmas broadcast confirmed that he had enforced item four by paying all the withheld entitlements of the lawmakers.