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Tag: Rivers

  • JUST IN: Rivers LGA succession crisis hots up as youths take over two councils

    JUST IN: Rivers LGA succession crisis hots up as youths take over two councils

    A palpable tension caused by the ongoing succession crisis enveloped the 23 local government areas of Rivers State on Monday sparking fears of possible outbreak of violence among residents of the oil-rich state.

    At Degema Local Government Area secretariat, some youths were seen blocking the main entrance, chanting songs in solidarity and demanding the departure of the council’s Chairman, Michael John Williams.

    The youths vowed to remain at the gate till Wednesday to stop Williams and other elected officials from gaining access their offices.

    They insisted that their three-year tenure on June 17 and that they should not be seen around the secretariat after the Sallah holiday.

    The youths were heard chanting “Chairman must go”, as others arrived the gate to join them.

    Same scenario played out at Asari-Toru Local Government Secretariat where youths barricaded the gate to stop their LGA Chairman and others from gaining access to the area.

    But at the Port Harcourt City LGA, over four patrol vans of policemen were seen keeping vigil at the gate to prevent possible breakdown of law and order.

    There were indications that Rivers Governor, Siminialayi Fubara, had sent a list of caretaker committees to the lawmakers led by factional Speaker Victor Oko-Jumbo.

    Scores of armed youths, suspected to be surveillance workers,  were seen in a viral video parading the creeks of riverine Local councils.

    Read Also: Crisis rocks Rivers LGA as thugs assault female councillor

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) claimed that the Governor had sent names of the seven-man caretaker committees for each local government area to Oko-Jumbo-led lawmakers for screening.

    An unidentified leader of joint task force anti-bunkering Southsouth was seen threatening fire and brimstone in another viral video.

    He said he came home with half of his armed men to take over the 23 local government areas and to escort the Caretaker committees to their various councils.

    He particularly drew a battle line with the outgoing Chairman of the Ikwerre Local Government Area, Samuel Nwanosike, who earlier vowed not to vacate his office after June 17.

    He said: “We are preparing and we are about to take over the local government areas on Wednesday. We are taking over the 23 local government areas. Let them wait for us, we are coming. 

    “We will be escorting every local government caretaker. My business is to work for the government and relate with the government to fight crime. I work with the joint task force. I am in charge of anti-bunkering Southsouth. 

    “I am back home with half of my men. We are getting ready for Wednesday. Let all the caretaker get ready to host my boys too. The Chairman of Ikwerre should  wait for me. 

    “I volunteer to come to Ikwerre, wait for us. If your head is hot, we will pour it cold water and it will be cool so that you learn how to respect elders and authority especially the number one citizen”.

    Details coming…

  • JUST IN: Youths storm Rivers LG secretariats, protest chairmen’s tenure extension

    JUST IN: Youths storm Rivers LG secretariats, protest chairmen’s tenure extension

    Some youths in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State on Monday took over the council headquarters.

    This was after the tenure of the local government chairmen in the State expired.

    The LG chairmen in the State under the aegis of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria vowed to remain in office, citing the Local Government Amendment Law by the Martin Amaewhule-led 27 House of Assembly members empowering them to extend their tenure by six months.

    Read Also: Confusion over tenure of Rivers council chairmen

    Rivers ALGON Chairman, Allwell Ihunda, who is the Chairman of Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, insisted that the law by the House of Assembly empowers them to remain in office.

    Details shortly…

  • Confusion over tenure of Rivers council chairmen

    Confusion over tenure of Rivers council chairmen

    The stage is set for test of strength between Rivers Governor Siminilaye Fubara and elected local government officials, who tenure expires today.

    Fubara has been at loggerhead with chairmen and councillors following the feud between him and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

    Many of the elected officials at the grassroots loyal to the minister, who was Fubara’s predecessor, had earlier vowed not to vacate offices at the expiration of their tenure today.

    In May, 21 chairmen under the auspices of the local chapter of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) in the state, led by their Chairman, Allwell Ihunda, met in Port Harcourt and insisted they would not quit in June.

    ALGON Legal Adviser, who doubles Chairman, Andoni Local Government Area, Dr. Iraatus Awoto, hinged their hinged on the new provision of the state’s Local Government Amendment Law passed by Speaker Martins Amaewhule-led lawmakers without the Fubara’s assent.

    Awoto said: “Yes, we got elected in 2021 and our tenure is to expire in June. But by now, local government poll ought to have been concluded and the winners awaiting swearing in.

    “The Assembly has seen that no action has been taking in respect of conducting an election and in their wisdom knows there shouldn’t be any vacuum and we have to maintain democratically elected chairmen as the local government law said until elections are done, this chairmen will stay in office for another six months in the interim.

    “We, as local government chairmen are going to remain in office because the law as amended by the Rivers State House of Assembly says so. That law has given us additional six month and we will remain in office after the expiration.”

    There was however a twist when the state High Court, declared the amendment to the law was unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect.

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

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

    In the judgment, Justice Diaketima Kio held that the Amaewhule-led House of Assembly overreached itself and that the actions by the lawmakers violated the provisions of the amended Nigerian Constitution.

    But signs of a looming confusion crept in when the chairmen, especially the Executive Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Samuel Nwanosike, insisted that they would remain in office after tomorrow.

    Nwanosike: “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”.

    Another council boss, Dr. Chidi Lloyd, maintained that he would not vacate office, saying that the new law should be treated as a doctrine of necessity initiated by the Amaewhule-led lawmakers to salvage democracy.

    There was palpable tension at the weekend as residents expressed fear of possible breakdown of law following the flexing of muscles by the parties.

    At the weekend, Amaewhule vowed that lawmakers would resist any caretaker committee arrangement for the councils.

    He said: “Many Rivers people have been calling and worried particularly with regards to the tenure of local government chairmen and vice-chairmen as their offices elapse in few days.

    Read Also: Tinubu urges sacrifice, love at Eid-el-Kabir

    “People want to know the position. Let’s make it clearly that we have not received any request from the governor for members of the caretaker committee to fill vacancies in local government.

    “We have not received any such communication. We believed that Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution as amended has guaranteed a system of local government with democratically elected local government officials.

    “The governor should not send any list to us. We are not expecting any list because Caretaker committees are indeed an aberration. There will be nothing like caretaker committee. The constitution remains the grund norm and we will continue to abide by it.”

    Though the governor has not constituted caretaker committees for the councils, his government had insisted that the chairmen must vacate office at the end of their tenure.

    Fubara recently reminded the council officials that their days were numbered and that they should be prepared to leave after today.

    His Information Commissioner Warisenibo Joe Johnson said the aggrieved chairmen were simply pursuing a mirage.

    Even if the amended law were to apply, the present officials would not benefit from it because the country’s Constitution prohibits retrospective laws, the commissioner said since the law was made after they had been elected to serve for only three years.

    Johnson said: “There is a prohibition on retrospective law. No law is made in retrospect. So, if a council chairman’s tenure which the law that brought them in clearly stated they would do three years, there is no law that can be made by any assembly that can override the provision of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on retrospective law.

    “What they are pursuing is a smokescreen, a fluke, and a mirage. It has no basis in law. Too many wrongs can never make one right.

    “It is a settled law that their tenure will expire on the 17th of June and by the 18th of June they will no longer be eligible to be called chairmen. It means their responsibilities have turned to what is called functus Officio. They should stop deceiving Rivers people.”

    Johnson’s position is believed to have been strengthened and fine-tuned by the High Court’s judgment that voided the tenure elongation law.

    Those loyal to Fubara have been threatening to resist any attempt by the officials to extend their stay beyond today.

    Some of them told the local government chairmen to prepare to quit today.

    The supporters, under the auspices of the Supreme Council for Sim Worldwide (SCSW) rejected the move to extend the tenures of the LG chairmen.

    Presenting a position in Port Harcourt, the co-chairman of the pro-Fubara group, Ambassador Oji Ngofa, urged the governor to forward the names of caretaker committee chairmen to the Victor Oko-Jumbo-led lawmakers for screening and confirmation.

    Oko-Jumbo is leader two other pro-Fubara lawmakers in the House.

    Ngofa said: “The Tenure of Local Government Councils Ends on June 17, 2024 The Supreme Council for SIM Worldwide denounce the Local Council Chairmen that disrespect the office and person of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

    “We reject as unconstitutional the attempted elongation of the tenure of local councils by the Martins Amaewhule-led former lawmakers.

  • Crisis looms in Rivers as LG chairmen’s tenures expire

    Crisis looms in Rivers as LG chairmen’s tenures expire

      The tenure of local government chairmen, their deputies and councillors in Rivers will expire on Monday, sparkling tension across the State.

      The succession tension was said to be part of the general crisis rocking the State, which had prevented the institution of a democratic process to fill the vacancies.

      Most of the elected officials at the grassroots loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, vowed not to vacate their offices after today.

      In May, 21 chairmen under the auspices of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) led by their Chairman, Allwell Ihunda, met in Port Harcourt and insisted they would not vacate their offices in June.

      The Legal Adviser of ALGON and Chairman of Andoni Local Government Area, Dr. Iraatus Awoto, explained their decision was hinged on the new provision of the state’s Local Government Amendment Law passed without the assent of the state Governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara by the Speaker Martins Amaewhule-led lawmakers.

      Awoto said: “Yes, we got elected in 2021 and our tenure is to expire in June. But by now LG elections ought to have been concluded and the winners awaiting swearing in. 

      “The Assembly has seen that no action has been taken in respect of conducting an election and in their wisdom knows there shouldn’t be any vacuum and we have to maintain democratically elected Chairmen as the local government law said until elections are done, this chairmen will stay in office for another six months in the interim.

      “We as local government chairmen we going to remain in office because the law as amended by the Rivers State House of Assembly says so. That law has given us additional six month and we will remain in office after the expiration.”

      Read Also: FG denies alleged plans to access Pension Funds

      But a twist occurred when the State High Court declared the new amendment unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect.

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

      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 judgement, 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.

      However, signs of looming breakdown of law and order emerged when the chairmen especially the Executive Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area, Samuel Nwanosike, still insisted that they would remain in their offices June 17.

      Nwanosike: “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”.

      Another Local Government Chairman, Dr. Chidi Lloyd, also maintained that he would not vacate his office saying that the new law should be treated as a doctrine of necessity initiated by the Amaewhule-led lawmakers to salvage democracy.

      It was observed that palpable tension enveloped the state at the weekend as residents expressed fear of possible breakout of violence following the confusion.

      At the weekend Amaewhule declared that the Assembly members would not accept any caretaker committee arrangement for local government areas from the Governor describing such moves as an aberration.

      He said: “Many Rivers people have been calling and worried particularly with regards to the tenure of local government chairmen and vice-chairmen as their offices elapse in few days. 

      “People want to know the position. Let’s make it clearly that we have not received any request from the governor for members of the Caretaker committee to fill vacancies in local government. 

      “We have not received any such communication. We beleived that section 7 of the 1999 constitution as amended has guaranteed a system of local government with democratically elected local government officials. 

      “The governor should not send any list to us. We are not expecting any list because Caretaker committees are indeed an aberration. There will be nothing like caretaker committee. The constitution remains the grund norm and we will continue to abide by it.

      Though the governor had yet to constitute caretaker committees for the LGA, his government had insisted that the chairmen must vacate office after tomorrow.

      Fubara told the occupants recently that their days were numbered and that they should be prepared to leave after June 17.

      The Commissioner for Information, Warisenibo Joe Johnson, said the aggrieved chairmen were simply pursuing a mirage.

      He said even if the amended law were to apply, the present councils’ elected officials would not benefit from it because the country’s Constitution prohibits retrospective laws 

      He said the present elected officials of the councils would not benefit from any tenure extension law made after they had been elected to serve for only three years.

      Johnson said: “There is a prohibition on retrospective law. No law is made in retrospect. So, if a council chairman’s tenure which the law that brought them in clearly stated they would do three years, there is no law that can be made by any assembly that can override the provision of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on retrospective law.

      “What they are pursuing is a smokescreen, a fluke, and a mirage. It has no basis in law. Too many wrongs can never make one right.

      “It is a settled law that their tenure will expire on the 17th of June and by the 18th of June they will no longer be eligible to be called chairmen. It means their responsibilities have turned to what is called functus Officio. They should stop deceiving Rivers people”.

      Johnson’s position is believed to have been strengthened and fine-tuned by the High court’s judgement that scrapped the tenure elongation law.

      Fubara’s loyalists has been heard threatening to resist any attempts by the elected local government officials to extend their tenures beyond June 17.

      At the weekend, the loyalists told the local government chairmen to prepare to vacate their offices on Monday.

      The supporters under the auspices of the Supreme Council for Sim Worldwide (SCSW) rejected the move to extend the tenures of the LG chairmen.

      Reading their position at the weekend in Port Harcourt,  the Co-Chairman of the group, Amb. Oji Ngofa, asked Fubara to send names of caretaker committee chairmen for local government areas to the Victor Oko-Jumbo-led lawmakers for screening and confirmation.

      Ngofa said: “The Tenure of Local Government Councils Ends on June 17, 2024 The Supreme Council for SIM Worldwide denounce the Local Council Chairmen that disrespect the office and person of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

      “We reject as unconstitutional the attempted elongation of the tenure of local councils by the  Martins Amaewhule-led former lawmakers.

      “We reject any attempt by the current chairmen and councilors not to vacate office at the expiration of their legitimate tenures on June 17, 2024.

      “We call on Governor Siminalayi Fubara GSSRS to send names of Caretaker Committee Chairmen and women to the Rt. Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo-led authentic Rivers State House of Assembly for confirmation”.

      The Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), SP. Grace Iringe-Koko, promised to respond to an inquiry of special security arrangements to secure the various councils and stop any violent clashes between the two parties.

    • Rivers crisis: Appeal Court verdict has restored hope in judiciary, says Group

      Rivers crisis: Appeal Court verdict has restored hope in judiciary, says Group

      The National Vanguard for Rule of Law (NVRL) has said the Appeal Court’s refusal to reverse the removal of Martins Chike Amaewhule and 26 others as members of the Rivers Assembly has restored confidence in the judiciary. 

      Amaewhule and others had approached the apex court seeking to vacate the Interlocutory Injunction of a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, which empowered Oko-Jumbo to keep on with the leadership of the Assembly.

      Justice Charles Wali of the State High Court had also ordered Amaewhule and 24 others to stop parading as speaker and lawmakers in the legislative arm of the state.

      In a ruling which was delivered virtually on Friday, the Appellate Court says giving a verdict reversing the decision of a Federal High Court which declared their seats vacant, will amount to pre-judging the appeal currently before it.

      In a statement by Comrade Johnson Babatunde, the group said the ruling has resurrected hope in the judiciary. 

      “If the prayer to reverse the restraining order on the former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly was granted, they would have used that window to perpetrate more mischief against the government and people of Rivers State,” Johnson said. 

      “With justices like those of the Port-Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal still in the temple of justice, it is our conviction that hope is not lost in the Nigerian judiciary. 

      Read Also: Court orders Kano govt to pay Bayero N10m damages

      “We equally call on all Nigerians to commend and support judges who give sound judgments to continue to deliver sound judgments to make Nigeria a better place. 

      “It is our believe that, our judges will deliver sound judgements in the other cases on the political crisis in Rivers State. 

      “The National Vanguard for Rule of Law(NVRL) equally uses this opportunity to urge Nigerian Judges to continue to deliver judgments that give Nigerians hope in the judiciary. 

      “Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done, as the court remains the last hope of the common man.”

    • Rivers community demands N100bn from Agip, blocks company’s gate

      Rivers community demands N100bn from Agip, blocks company’s gate

      The Mgbuoshimini community, Rumueme Kingdom in Obio/Akpor local government area of Rivers State has demanded N100bn compensation from the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) for operating in their area for 60 years without addressing their needs.

      Hundreds of men, women, and youths of the community barricaded the gate leading to the company with their drums, music, cooking utensils, goats, and tubers of yam among others to protest against NAOC.

      The protesting residents came with placards with inscriptions such as ‘Agip GMD Stop the Negligence of Mgbuosimini’, ‘Agip Employ Our Youths,’ ‘Mr Dennis Mazi, Mrs Rebecca Opubo Must Go,’ Agip Train Our Youths, We are Capable and We are Able.’

      The acting chairman of Mgbuoshimini Community Development Council, Weli Nyeche, who spoke on behalf of the community, said that the firm operated in their area for 60 years, but that the people did not benefit from its existence

      Nyeche insisted that the community had been neglected by NAOC and demanded that they must be given their rightful place.

      Read Also: Rivers crisis: Edwin Clark faults Sekibo over comment on Ijaws

      He said: “The community hears that Agip Oil Company Ltd has been sold to OandO PLC without carrying the host Mgbuosimini Community along knowing that Agip does not have an absolute lease on our ancestral land among many other legal issues. This is unacceptable and we demand justice.

      “That Agip should pay the sum of one hundred billion Naira to Mgbuosimini Community in compensation for over sixty years of neglect and several damages caused Mgbuosimini Community.

      “That Agip should ensure to implement fully the items in our sixteen paragraph charter of Demands or the Community will sustain the peaceful protest until the Demands are met.”

      Nyeche also called on Agip to revoke all contracts it awarded to one Chukwu, who was said to be on police wanted list for alleged killings in the area.

      He added that the contract with Chukwu and his men undermined security in the area and national security.

      He said: “All contracts awarded to the wanted killer group led by a wanted notorious killer, Chukwu, who was declared wanted by the Nigerian Police Force for the killing of more than forty persons in the community including the gruesome killing of Chief Ndidi Livingstone the Community Development Council (MCDC) Chairman in January 2024 should be terminated as the deceased chairman will be buried on Thursday June 13, 2024.”

    • BREAKING: Rivers govt denies judgment declaring Amaewhule-led lawmakers as PDP members

      BREAKING: Rivers govt denies judgment declaring Amaewhule-led lawmakers as PDP members

      The Rivers state government has described the report that a state High Court sitting in Port Harcourt delivered a judgment declaring the 27 lawmakers led by Speaker Martins Amaewhule as members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as misleading and false.

      The Attorney-General of the state and Commissioner for Justice, Dagogo Israel Iboroma, said the suit before the court did not seek to declare the seats of Amaewhule and 26 others vacant.

      He said: “As Hon. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and 3rd defendant in SUIT NO DHC/20/CS/2024, my attention has been drawn to a recent judgment. This suit did not seek to declare the seat of Martins Amaewhule and 26 others in the Rivers State House of Assembly vacant.

      Read Also: BREAKING: Court dismisses suit seeking to declare 25 Rivers Assembly seats vacant

      “The suit of the claimants was struck out for want of locus standi and jurisdiction and also for being an abuse of court process which robbed the trial court of jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matter.

      “There is misleading news circulating in social media, print and electronic media that Martins Amaewhule & 26 others are members of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Rivers State House of Assembly.”

      Details shortly…

    • Reps to investigate members’ solidarity visit to Rivers governor

      Reps to investigate members’ solidarity visit to Rivers governor

      The House of Representatives leadership is set to investigate the recent visit by some of its members to the Rivers state governor, purportedly in solidarity.

      The deputy speaker of the House, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, presided over the plenary on Thursday, June 6, and indicated that a matter of personal explanation brought before the House by the chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Hon. Yusuf Adams Gagdi, will be investigated.

      Gagdi stated that his rights as a member of the House were violated when a group of lawmakers visited the Rivers governor under the guise of representing the entire House.

      He mentioned that he saw in a national newspaper that a group of 40 lawmakers paid a solidarity visit to the governor, creating the impression that the House was involved in politics contrary to its resolution of being a United House.

      He said the House should investigate the circumstances surrounding the visit to find out the truth behind the report.

      The attempt by some members of the House who were part of the delegation to defend the visit was rejected by the presiding officer and deputy speaker, Benjamin Kalu who insisted that following the House rules, matters of privilege are not subject to debate.

      Read Also: Reps probe contracts for dredging of Calabar seaport

      Kalu said the House rules allow any member to bring a matter of personal explanation when he feels that his rights as a member have been breached saying that is what Hon. Gagdi has done.

      He said further that the House has a mechanism for investigating such claims, pointing out that the leadership of the House, working with the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges will investigate the matter to find out the truth.

      He told those who were agitating to defend their attendance at the event that they should wait to be invited by the ethics committee, saying, “You cannot debate personal explanation with a personal explanation. The leadership will look into the issue he has raised. The issue may be true, but it may not be true. When they invite you, go abs explain yourself to them.”

    • Environmental abuse causing food insecurity, says Rivers

      Environmental abuse causing food insecurity, says Rivers

      The Rivers government has lamented that various forms of environmental abuse in the state are mostly responsible for low agricultural activities fueling food insecurity in the country.

      The new state’s commissioner for environment, Tambari Sydney Gbara, said the ecosystem had been badly hampered by pollution, climate change and biodiversity decimation.

      Gbara spoke on Wednesday, June 5, at the state’s event to mark World Environmental Day with a theme, Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience, attended by Rivers environmental stakeholders.

      He said: “Through human activities, our healthy land has been turned into deserts and our thriving ecosystem turned into dead zones. We are bringing forest grasslands into extinction and reducing the strength of land to support the ecosystem, agricultural activities and communities”.

      Gbara said the priority must be on restoring the ecosystem by replanting the forests, rewetting the marshes and reviving the soils insisting that restoration could create havens for both wild and aquatic animals.

      Read Also: JUST IN: Tanker explosion kills two in Rivers

      “Restoration will create buffers around communities protecting them from climate-related disasters, which are becoming common by the day. Restoration can also be a boom for the economy. But for restoration to be successful, we need everyone on board”.

      He said as a deltaic area, Rivers was confronted with the challenges of flooding, erosion, and environmental degradation lamenting that land and homes were continually threatened by water caused by rising sea levels.

      He said: “As the epicentre of oil and gas activities in Nigeria, Rivers State also suffers from the activities of multinationals that emit a greater percentage of hydrocarbons into our environment”

      Gbara called for proper bagging of solid waste, continuous distilling of canals, and ensuring that streams, Rivers, lakes, and the ocean were not polluted with harmful substances.

      He called on all stakeholders to work with the government to make the environment conducive for all and to adopt good hygiene practices around their surroundings.

      Gbara said: “To this end, the government is embarking on shore protection, sand filling and canalisation of some of our riverine communities to protect them from flooding occasioned by rising sea levels and heavy rains.”

    • Kano, Rivers and culture of rhetorical violence

      Kano, Rivers and culture of rhetorical violence

      Kano and Rivers States have become the new poster boys for rhetorical violence. Kano always seemed combustible, and has in the past two or three weeks proved its mettle in boisterous politics, but it was Rivers, with its immense talent for both rhetorical excesses and engaging burlesque, that got Nigerians transfixed for the past few months. It is somewhat quiet now on the Rivers front, albeit the quietude of the graveyard, but who knows tomorrow? On its own, after achieving what is probably a contrived judicial stalemate after two heady weeks of monarchical war games, Kano is lapsing into unearthly somnolence. But it won’t be for long. Something or someone will break the logjam, not only in Kano, but also in Rivers. It is the way things work in these parts. Just when they teeter between war and peace, suddenly they regain balance and move on much steadily than anticipated.

      Whether for long or merely episodic, what seems to define the politics of Kano and Rivers is their almost total embrace of rhetorical violence. They enjoy it, and are indeed cavorting in it. In Kano, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, a protégé of the founder of the Kwankwasiyya movement and former governor of the state, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, had just railroaded a bill through the House of Assembly two Thursdays ago to repeal the Kano Emirate Council (Repeal) law. That law sacked the five emirates of Bichi, Gaya, Rano, Karaye and Kano created by the previous administration of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje. But on that same Thursday, a Kano kingmaker, Aminu Babba Danagundi, who is also the Sarkin Dawaki Babba, brought a motion before the Federal High Court, Kano, headed by Justice Abdullahi Muhammad Liman, to impede the return of dethroned Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II to the unified Kano throne. Since then, injunctions and interim orders from various courts have been flying around in the state.

      READ ALSO; Kanu’s freedom will bring peace to Southeast, says IPOB

      The multiplicity of injunctions is of course bad enough, causing giddiness among security agencies and the Kano populace, but much worse is the rhetorical violence thundered by interested parties, including, sadly, the state government, and even former vice president Atiku Abubakar. Last week, rather than call for restraint in the tussle for the Kano throne, the former vice president warned that anarchy was imminent and asked Nigerians to hold President Bola Ahmed Tinubu responsible. What about the governor, the state’s lawmakers, acerbic government officials, lawyers, and the emirs themselves? Nonsense, implied Alhaji Atiku; the buck stops at the president’s desk. Mendacity and truth have become hopelessly inextricable, nerves are frayed, and the combatants have dug their heels in. Bilious and trenchant statements by sundry interested parties began flying around warning of anarchy, disorder and doomsday. Nearly everyone wants the president to intervene. How? By sanctioning the courts, stifling the rights of citizens to seek relief in the courts, hamstringing the state government, or issuing diktats to the emirate council?

      Some commentators have gone as far as suggesting that because former governor Ganduje was involved in the creation of the five emirates, which Governor Yusuf has now unified into just one Kano Emirate, then President Tinubu must be a party to the dispute, perhaps subtly on the side of the former governor for political and electoral reasons. Other commentators accuse the current governor of preconceived bias in railroading the repeal law on the grounds of his and the Kwankwasiyya movement’s campaign promises. Since the idea of one big Kano Emirate still holds attraction for many Kanawa, it was also suggested that the other side enamoured of the split emirates must be evil. Positions have hardened, and fiery, unforgiving statements are flying round and complicating the tussle for the throne and obfuscating electoral extrapolations. Everyone, left or right of the spectrum, gives the impression that war is imminent. They would in the end be disappointed if war does not break out in line with their wishes nurtured since the end of the last president poll.

      The situation in Rivers is more farcical but no less truculent. There the courts are also naturally involved in issuing orders and counter-orders, of course complicating the severe and ongoing political tussle in the state. The Rivers tussle is much simpler, however. Governor Siminalayi Fubara fell out with his benefactor and predecessor, Nyesom Wike. Unlike the Kano Emirate tussle, the Rivers crisis was a hasty and unnecessary struggle for dominance. Wisdom should have dictated a different course of action, but as some commentators in the state observed, Gov Fubara embarked on a rapprochement with some political actors who opposed his election and who fought his predecessor to a standstill. In the eyes of Mr Wike, the peace march was a ploy to hijack the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) structure in the state and turn it over to the ‘enemy’.

      Very quickly, the frontline took shape and positions became ossified. A peace deal was struck early in the war of control at the behest of the president, but after some so-called state elders intervened and deconstructed the deal, in almost similar circumstances to the pre-civil war Aburi Accord fiasco, Mr Fubara ‘saw the light’ and became intransigent. The fight began in earnest, State Assembly building was torched and soon demolished, and the suspended and minority lawmakers of four legislators soon became the de facto Assembly appointing speakers, making laws, and vetting commissioners. More, the minority legislators sat in Government House, turning over the control and inspiration of the legislature to the state executive. In days, dithyrambs were composed and all manner of troubadours began writing classical and jazz music, complete with provincial ensembles and orchestras. Unusually fecund for producing musical scores, Rivers State began churning out virtuosi rhetoricians, including the governor himself, who could play with words and phrases as well as energise rhythmic musical expressions. But they soon began speaking violence, warning about the enemies of Mr Fubara plotting to set the state, nay the country, alight should the president fail to intervene and restrain Mr Wike. As recent as last Wednesday, the courts were still belching out injunctions, creating a situation where many wondered whether they would have any left before the year runs out.