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Tag: Rivers

  • Crisis: Uneasy calm in Rivers after Abuja deal

    Crisis: Uneasy calm in Rivers after Abuja deal

    Uneasy calm has enveloped Rivers state after the Abuja deal that brokered peace between the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara and the state House of Assembly.

    President Bola Tinubu initiated the peace meeting where Fubara and other gladiators signed eight-point peace accord.

    The eight-point resolution brought the state back to its political status quo before the crisis broke out.

    Rivers has been engulfed in political warfare since October 31st when the hallowed chamber of the state House of Assembly was bombed by unknown arsonists.

    As a major highlight of the agreement,  the House of Assembly was ordered to stop all impeachment moves against the governor while the governor was directed to recognise Martins Amaewhule as the Speaker.

    The governor was asked to represent his already signed 2024 budget to a properly constituted House with Amaewhule as the Speaker.

    Read Also: Rivers Federal lawmaker under fire over attack on Wike

    While the 27 lawmakers, who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) would remain in their new party, Fubara was asked to represent the names of the commissioners, who resigned their appointments amidst the crisis to the House of Assembly.

    But the resolution said nothing about Edison Ehie, a factional speaker and Fubara’s backbone, whether he should be returned to his initial position as the Leader of the House or not.

    On Tuesday, all eyes were on both parties especially the governor to see how they would implement the agreements.

    While some people especially crisis merchants were seen criticising the agreement and calling on the governor to reject it, others said since Fubara had consented to it he should go ahead and implement it to ensure peace in Rivers.

  • Rivers roforofo

    Rivers roforofo

    By the time the on-going spectacles of solidarity marches and high street choreographies in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital finally dies down –which seems unlikely anytime soon – one hopes that the good people of the Treasure Base of the Nation, as indeed the rest of Nigerians – will still retain the presence of mind to reflect on the humongous of the cost of the crisis that they have been sucked into by actors whose understanding of political brinksmanship borders on insanity.

    By this I do not refer to the cost merely in naira and kobo terms but also breaches in communal relations, resurgence of ethnic animosities and, as you might imagine, the brazen disregard, if not outright contempt for of the constitution and the constitutional order by those ever so eager to mouth the need for its protection.

    To declare the play by the political actors as anything short of an all-out war is to understate the enormity of the looming tragedy. While the guns may not have begun booming as yet – at least at this point – the way the two sides of the divide are massed in their dug out trenches can only be a foretaste of the looming battle – the equivalent of political war of Armageddon.   

    Clearly, if the attempted arson on the very symbol of representative democracy – the parliament – was meant to be a teaser, the blatantly crude and monstrously riotous play by the various shades of actors in the divide are certainly pointers to the dangers lurking on the horizon.  Last week’s despoliation of the parliament by the raging bulldozers of an endangered and apparently frightened governor can only but signpost that the grave matter has finally reached a point of no return. Never mind that it was orchestrated by a fazed executive, the act reaches beyond mere symbolism; it is bad for the law and process, the orderly society and of course democracy. It smacks of desperation.

    Yes, the joke is on the Rivers State governor – Amaopusenibo Siminalayi “Sim” Joseph Fubara. His metamorphosis is all by now, complete. The one-time meek, genuflecting executive has – as it is – fully come to his own. He is not only now described by his hordes of fawning supporters as the lordly Mayor of the Garden City state, he now adorns the full armour of the Creek Lord primed to vanquish every foe. Talk of one moment providing invaluable lesson in human transformation; the world now sees the man in his true essence. And what an unsightly image to behold!

    Last week, the governor became at once the structural engineer, the site demolitionist and the governor all rolled into one – not so much in defence of democracy or its institutions, but in the morbid game of survival and regime preservation.

    Surely, Nigerians are entitled to believe what version that suits them on the on-going ruckus between political godson and godfather in Rivers State. The one says the governor has no right to destroy the structure that brought him into office; the other insists he did no wrong and so could not be seen to live under the shadow of anyone –in carrying out the business of the good people of Rivers State.

    Thanks to conflict entrepreneurs, the conflict has also been framed as a war of liberation, in which the governor’s crime is asserting his ‘independence’ from the godfather, who, permanently condemned to crossing the line of political decency by his high-handedness and overbearing nature, needed to be tamed for the good people of Rivers to breathe! 

    Again, thanks to those adept at weaving the single-story narrative, Fubara, has been riding the crest, egged on, by those who insist he could do no wrong since Wike is involved!

    My worry is not the game at play – and there are many strands to it: his so-called war with Wike, his now estranged godfather, the unending drama on the streets and Government House precincts by political jobbers and countless others with axes to grind; the self-serving rallies supposedly staged to strengthen the hands of the governor; the now legendary opportunism that would see the governor present his first budget to a motley assembly of four persons in a 32-member parliament, and the chief of them all – the unequal contest between, for now, an all-conquering governor and an effectively decimated parliament.

    Hopefully, all of them would be straightened out one way or the other – either by the judicial process or the political process in the fullness of time.  For far beyond the aberration is the extent to which some Nigerians would be willing to tolerate, if not encourage a bigger evil, in the bid to extirpate a lesser one – just because it is expedient to do so.

    Read Also: Tinubu to NPC board: start work now, I won’t tolerate non-performance

    As I see it, it would seem that the man, Fubara, will not hesitate to pull down the roofs, if it came to that!

    By this I mean his ongoing cynical assault on the constitution and process. As has become obvious now: those who trained him certainly trained him well in that old school of political subterfuge of which Godwin Obaseki, the Edo State governor is now its acclaimed poster-boy!

    Remember, in Godwin Obaseki’s Edo, 14 elected lawmakers in a parliament of 24 members were shut out by their colleagues – never to return – all because the governor wanted the leadership of his own choosing as against that of his one-time godfather. That was in June 2019.

    Of course, we had, before then, other aberrations such as governors banishing their lawmakers to Abuja because they couldn’t bear the thought of anyone but them calling the shots in the arena they are expected to dominate! Even the all-knowing Olusegun Obasanjo, who has, at various times, morphed from being president, statesman, letter writer to being lately, a ‘governance expert’  couldn’t resist, during his time, suborning state minority lawmakers to do his bidding from the cosy comfort of his Abuja Villa!

    Today, courtesy of an all-powerful governor, a four-member parliament now sits and passes bills – including the all-important Appropriation Act and this in less than 96 hours, and that would seem just fine! And if that seems a mockery of the process; how about the equally mocking ex parte order gleefully handed the minority lawmakers by the court to take over a parliament at the expense of their majority members? And what do we say of the governor seizing upon the crime scene – the partially burnt parliamentary edifice – to order its summary demolition in what smacks of a final act of self-preservation?

    Strange isn’t it that those who are now condemning the godfather are yet to see the damage being done to their state by their governor?

    Yes – Nyesom Wike may in fact be guilty as hell of the charges against him. His methods may have been weird, eccentric and sometimes crude; what no one has yet suggested is a embrace of raw outlawry. Sadly, one wishes that this could be said of Governor Sim Fubara after barely seven months of being in the saddle.

  • The tragedy in Rivers

    The tragedy in Rivers

    Apart from the reckless and profligate demolition of the iconic Rivers State House of Assembly building, much of last week was taken up by the furore over the resignation of some seven commissioners on the cabinet of Governor Siminalayi Fubara. The governor has come of age and has decided that whatever the cost, he is determined to be his own man and will not be a leader who cannot call his soul his own. He will, it seems, forcibly wean himself off his dependence on ex-governor Nyesom Wike‘s breast milk. The resignees were all the former governor’s men anyway, and had all been foisted on the new governor, it was alleged. The iconic legislative building too was nothing more than a victim of collateral damage, a memento of the war between a feisty mentor and his lugubrious mentee. Built during the Peter Odili administration, only one chamber out of six was burnt in the early days of the war between Mr Wike and the governor. But seizing upon that arson, and declaring that the entire building no longer had structural integrity, the governor brought the whole edifice down over days, a herculean and costly and foolish effort. Only in Nigeria, and of course in the name of democracy.

     It was not until last week that Mr Fubara’s side of the story began to waft out into the poisoned atmosphere in Port Harcourt. Mr Wike is allegedly high-handed, grasping, uncouth, vindictive and rambunctious, they say. He was, they add, virtually having a third term in office by single-handedly nominating nearly all the commissioners, gets reports of the government’s financial dealings, has hemmed in the governor with all sorts of fail-safe measures and tools and handymen, leaving the governor straitjacketed. Stifled and scorned, Mr Fubara has reached out to his Ijaw brothers and sisters for support, unconcerned about the consequential ethnic bifurcation of the state. He is relived that the burdensome and prying commissioners are resigning, regardless of whether it seemed like they were protesting his lack of principles and recklessness. And he has finally put his hands to the plough and will be loth to look back. More, he imitates the Edo example of transposing minority and majority lawmakers, and has done his arithmetic well to be satisfied that four lawmakers passing his budget in less than 24 hours means nothing to either democracy or his image. He blames his resort to legal legerdemain, burning of the ‘Reichstag’, lack of regard for democratic principles, marching of the ‘black shirts’ on Port Harcourt, and if care is not taken, Kristallnacht, all on Mr Wike.

    In the days ahead, the controversy about the power of 27 lawmakers versus the effrontery of four lawmakers might land in the courts and be probably resolved or litigated for extended period of time until it becomes a fait accompli. The defections of the 27 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the improbable ex parte injunction upon which Mr Fubara based his provocative budget presentation and immediate accent will also come into sharp focus. In addition, the commissioners will of course be replaced, and the nominees given express vetting and approval. Against these alarming and tragic happenings, the people of Rivers State know very well the antecedents of Mr Wike, how he ruled the roost during his governorship without anyone breathing down his neck, and how he has waxed lyrical about Mr Fubara’s betrayal and ingratitude. The devil is in the detail. Perhaps many analysts are perplexed by the rapid disintegration of the relationship between the governor and his predecessor; perhaps they are also stupefied by Mr Fubara’s embrace of patently anti-democrat methods to win his freedom from the former governor, and is indifferent to the repercussions on the state’s democratic practices, finances, and relationship between ethnic groups. But what they will find more difficult to explain is how the governor hid his sinister longings for so long before exploding in a paroxysm of rage.

    It is not time for Mr Fubara to regret any method and weapon he has deployed so far in the fight against his predecessor. But it is time for Mr Wike to be full of regrets. He was said to have been warned about ceding power to Mr Fubara’s part of the state, but he brushed aside any misgivings. No one it seems counseled him about his undue expectations from the governor, but he has undoubtedly now realised that his ability to measure competence and capacity as well as produce the next generation of leaders were deeply flawed. He chose the wrong man, possibly because his own democratic credentials and leadership acuity were deeply and perhaps indubitably wrong. Not only did he apply the wrong principles and yardsticks in measuring competence and capacity, but by not having a great understanding of what leadership means, and by not anchoring leadership on any philosophy and ideology, it was also difficult for him to identify the right man for the job. He chose Mr Fubara, not because the latter shared his worldview and philosophy, and can thus defend the party’s structure and ideas in the years ahead; he chose him for his loyalty, an appalling and meretricious yardstick that easily wilts at the first contact with half a joule of political heat energy.

    Read Also: Fubara takes Rivers to the brink

    Mr Wike is deeply flawed and not quite as altruistic as he presents himself; he will be fortunate to understand how to manage, overcome or reconcile with his successor. Mr Fubara, notwithstanding the panegyrics of his fellow Ijaw men and women, is definitely not what he is cracked up to be. Indeed, if Mr Wike is flawed, Mr Fubara is a tragedy. By ignoring the arson in the legislature and then proceeding, despite the humongous costs involved, to pull down the entire structure, he has proved to be a total and unquestionable misfit. It is doubtful whether the cost he has approved for his inexpiable methods can be defended. It is even more shocking that the people of Rivers could stand grimly aside and see their legislative building pulled down with out a whimper. Perhaps they imprudently see the matter as ‘two fighting’. The worst shock is the federal government and its police force that should have done something major and calculating about getting to the bottom of the arson in the House of Assembly. Petrified of being seen to be taking sides, they allowed themselves to be paralysed from doing their law enforcement job, and have even provided security for the state executive branch to pull down the legislative building housing an independent arm of government. Have they all lost their minds in Port Harcourt?

    There are calls for President Bola Tinubu to intervene before things get out of hand. Earlier, he had intervened to no avail. It is not clear, as the judiciary displays their proficiency to complicate things in the state with ex parte injunctions, that any intervention now to forge a truce will amount to anything. What the federal government should do – indeed should have done – is to apply the law. They should have got to the bottom of the arson in the House of Assembly, and prevented the demolition of the building until the forensic examination of the burnt part was completed. It was a crime scene which they are now complicit in obliterating. The investigations should, however, still be done. The federal government should make it clear to the dithering police and quiescent Department of State Service (DSS) that their job is not to take sides, regardless of how patronising the state government has been to them, but to protect and enforce the law and the constitution. Tragedy and farce of unimaginable proportions are unfolding upon the state, and the people who should defend democracy and good governance suffer from inexplicable inertia. It is not too late for Abuja to quit their passivity. They have the constitution to guide and enliven them.

  • Rivers of troubles

    Rivers of troubles

    Rivers is a state of political warriors who are addicted to crises. It is a wealthy state; richer than many others put together. Its wealth has brought it fortunes, development and progress, to the envy of its peers across the lopsided federated country.

    But, the reason there is so much crisis in the Southsouth state may also be due to its wealth. Its pride is its limitless oil from vast fields. Its gas is still being flared, to the consternation of those who scolded successive Federal Governments for a shortfall in vision and productivity.

     The summary is that those in the corridors of power, who have access to the state’s wealth and resources, are also in the vantage position to deploy them into the war of supremacy and egoism.

    So rich is the state that in the last 23 years it has made progress under its three governors under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – Dr. Peter Odili, Rotimi Amaechi, and Nyesom Wike. In fact, many expect the state to soar to a greater horizon of progress under Governor Siminalayi Fubara because he has models to emulate. His career as a civil servant was like an indirect tutelage under the previous administrations.

    Rivers State is also reputed for the ambitions of its governors. The three former governors were presidential aspirants who fought hard battles in their bid to secure the tickets of their political parties. The pillar of their aspirations may have been the deep purse of their oil-rich state. But the tickets eluded all of them.

    A permanent feature of the state is successor-predecessor crisis. It has become a tradition and culture that is inherited and transmitted from one dispensation to another. Once a crisis breaks out in Rivers, reconciliation becomes futile. The state is polarised. The situation degenerates into the survival of the fittest.

    Although a heterogeneous state, ethnic tension has been minimal, except when political gladiators deliberately enlisted ethnic numerical strength into personal battles. Neither is religion a major issue. Almost all indigenes of the state from the diverse social formations are Christians.

    But those who trouble the peace of the ever buoyant state are not the commoners; it’s the privileged leaders. All of them are closely bound together by political ties. The battle among the political elite, backed by many prominent traditional rulers in the state, who were once active politicians and public servants, is intense because the stakes are always high.

    In extreme cases, when some categories of militants and even cultists were on the prowl, they were politically induced. External forces are not waging a war on Rivers; the state has been waging a war on itself.

    There is no godfather in the Southsouth state that has not regretted his last cardinal decision of installing a lackey as successor.

    Odili, eminent medical doctor, Third Republic deputy governor and governor for eight years between 1999 and 2007, groomed his boy, Amaechi, for succession. Despite the stiff resistance by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other forces who brought an interloper, Clemens Omehia, Amaechi succeeded his godfather. That was the end of the story.

    The godfather and his godson later parted ways. The cause of the rift was not brought to the public domain. If Obasanjo had allowed the PDP to conduct a free and fair presidential primary, perhaps, Odili would have picked the ticket, having seized the momentum from the onset.

    After leaving office, the experienced politician was left in the cold. But an accomplished, calm and mature statesman, Odili also let go at the state level and never raised an eyebrow at the state affairs, policies and programmes when Amaechi was in the saddle.

    Read Also: Shettima inaugurates core working group on fight against malnutrition

    Although the anti-graft body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was after him, the old man got a rare reprieve. The court granted him an order of perpetual injunction that he should never be troubled for life.

    Though an elder statesmen and a septuagenarian, Odili has not really retired from politics. He is a PDP elder held in high esteem. He lives a life of contentment and he has some peace of mind.

    These are the rare happenstances that appeared to have eluded his successor and beneficiary of his succession plan. Young and vibrant, Amaechi is a lucky politician who was transformed from Odili’s personal aide to a member of the House of Assembly. Perceived as a loyal son, he became Speaker without much stress, and after eight years, sat on the number one seat vacated by his benefactor.

    Unfortunately, Amaechi, who also became the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), could not hand over to his preferred candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, having left his party for the All Progressives Congress (APC). Being the stronghold of the PDP, Rivers people made Nyesom Wike their governor.

    The parting of ways between Amaechi and Wike was confounding to their common friends and compatriots. When Amaechi was forced by circumstances to temporarily leave the country when the political heat was put on him, it was Wike who held forte in the course of the litigation; Amaechi’s ambition, which in OBJ’s calculation, had developed a ‘K-Leg,’ was being ‘straightened’ in court. Wike was Amaechi’s Chief of Staff before he was appointed the Minister of State for Education by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    As Wike succeeded Amaechi, both resumed full hostilities. Having under-studied the former governor’s utilisation of resources to fight partisan battles, Wike gained greater mastery of the art. The gulf deepened between Wike and Amaechi, who, despite being a federal minister, could not persuade the central government to deploy its federal might to unseat him in 2019 or frustrate his 2023 succession plan.

    Wike triumphed. But little did he guess that he would not have peace afterwards. The current Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister understood the calculations that led to the choice of Fubara as his anointed candidate. The former Accountant-General knows why he became the beneficiary of the succession plan. The cause of the rift may be that after power landed on his laps, interests could no longer align,  leading to a deep gulf.

    Fubara has been an observer of the recurrent successor/predecessor crises that have been the hallmark of Rivers, having worked in the civil service in the last two decades and risen to the pinnacle of his career under the civilian regimes that were characterised by intra and inter-party wars of attrition.

    What is striking in Rivers is that no single successor/predecessor crisis has been resolved. Reconciliation between benefactors and beneficiaries has often been stalled. Although President Bola Tinubu has intervened once in the current impasse, his admonition went on deaf ears. The President is may still condider bringing them back to Aso Villa the second time for a truce.

    What now preoccupies the two warring camps in Rivers is not effective governance in the state but how to win the battle and how not to lose the war. Attention is inadvertently diverted from the pursuit of laudable policies and programmes. Much energy is being dissipated on crisis management.

    A state needs an atmosphere of peace for the continuous works of development. That harmony is currently absent in Rivers. The state is polarised and, as the acrimony festers, both sides are liable to commit more errors.

    Already, the faulty mathematics of sustaining the numerical superiority and supremacy of four state lawmakers over 27 stares people in the face. Since Rivers is bouyant, it can afford to pull down the House of Assembly complex. A new one will be built soonest. Then, any judge can award ex-parte injuction at will without putting the other side on notice. The confusion can be justified by the narrow minded enemies of democracy as part of politics.

    Let the gladiators, combatants, their allies and followers on both sides realise that while they know the beginning of the war, they cannot accurately predict its end.

    On Thursday, elder statesman Chief Rufus Ada George appealed to the warring parties to show decorum and elevate the collective interest of the state over their particularistic agenda.

    Warning against further  provocative comments, he said: “I am deeply pained and worried over these embarrassing events and flagrant demonstration of impunity, power, and lawlessness because of the grave danger they portend to the peace and security of Rivers State and Nigeria as a whole.

    “As the oldest former Governor of Rivers State, I call on all former governors and their deputies to close ranks, come together, and collectively and frankly speak to our younger colleagues in the best interest of the state.”

     The former governor pleaded with the warriors to prioritise Rivers State first and above all other personal, sectional and parochial interests.

    Hopefully, reason and wisdom will triumph over ego, arrogance, selfishness and destructive self-interest.

  • IYC flays killing of soldiers, drivers, abduction of Koreans in Rivers

    IYC flays killing of soldiers, drivers, abduction of Koreans in Rivers

    The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has condemned in strong terms the killing of four soldiers and two drivers by unknown gunmen in Abua-Odual Local Government Area of Rivers State by unknown gunmen.

    Also, the council in a statement on Friday by its national spokesman, Ambassador Binebai Princewill, condemned in its entirety the kidnapping of two South Korean expatriates during the attack.

    Recall that yet-to-be-identified gunmen on Wednesday ambushed a convoy of Daewood Construction workers returning to their office in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, along the Ahoada/Abua section of the East-West road in Rivers State, shooting dead four soldiers and two drivers.

    The gunmen also abducted two expatriate Korean workers in the convoy.

    Princewill called on those behind the dastardly act to urgently release the foreigners and desist from such acts forthwith.

    Read Also: Shettima inaugurates core working group on fight against malnutrition

    He said: “Such kidnapping, attack and killing are not in line with the Ijaw and the Niger Delta struggle for resource control and self-determination. This is barbaric and highly unacceptable.

    “It is a clear case of criminality and a setback to efforts towards peace and stability of the region.  We therefore call on the relevant security agencies to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous crime, to serve as a deterrent to others.”

    The group, however, called on the military to display utmost professionalism in their pursuit of the criminals.

    “The innocent people of Abua-Odual Local Government Area and its neighbouring local governments in Rivers and Bayelsa states must not be subjected to unnecessary pains in the attempt to get the criminals.”

  • BREAKING: Rivers Housing, Transport Commissioners resign from Fubara’s cabinet

    BREAKING: Rivers Housing, Transport Commissioners resign from Fubara’s cabinet

    Amid the political crisis rocking Rivers, two more commissioners have resigned from Governor Sim Fubara’s cabinet.

    They are: Commissioner for Housing, Dr. Gift Worlu and Commissioner of Transportation, Jacobson B. Nbina.

    “I hereby resign my appointment as the Hon. Commissioner for Transport, Rivers State with effect from today, Thursday 14th December 2023,” Nbina stated in his resignation letter addressed to the governor.

    The Nation reports Rivers State political crisis deepened further on Thursday after six commissioners loyal to ex-governor Nyesom Wike resigned from the cabinet of Governor Fubara.

    Read Also: BREAKING: Four more Rivers commissioners resign

    The state’s Attorney-General (AG) and Commissioner for Justice Prof Zacchaeus Adangor was the first to lead the wave of resignations. 

  • BREAKING: Rivers attorney-general resigns as Wike/Fubara’s saga continues

    BREAKING: Rivers attorney-general resigns as Wike/Fubara’s saga continues

    Professor Zacchaeus Adangor has resigned from his positions as Rivers state’s attorney general and commissioner of justice.

    Adangor informed Governor Similanayi Fubara in his resignation letter dated December 14, 2023, that he chose not to serve in the government out of personal conviction.

    Adangor, who was a member of Fubara’s predecessor Nyesom Wike’s government, expressed gratitude to the governor for recognizing his suitability for the position.

    Read Also: APC faults Fubara’s budget presentation to 4 Rivers lawmakers

    The resignation comes on the heels of the demolition of the State House of Assembly at the instance of Fubara and presentation of the 2024 budget to four pro-Fubara lawmakers led by Edison Ehie.

    His statement reads, “I hereby give Your Excellency Notice of my resignation as the Honourable Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Rivers State with effect from the date of this letter

    “For the avoidance of doubt, from the said office is based on personal principles,”

    Details shortly…

  • Rivers crisis: FG distances self from cause, positions of parties

    Rivers crisis: FG distances self from cause, positions of parties

    The federal government on Wednesday, December 13, refuted an insinuation that it had a hand the the escalating political situation in Rivers state, saying what is happening in the state is not its creation.

    The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who was responding to a question on what the federal government’s perspective on the situation was, said the President Bola Tinubu administration is interested in the peace and well being of all the states, including Rivers.

    The political situation in Rivers state, especially in the capital, Port Harcourt, became more tensed in last few hours, following further polarisation of the State House of Assembly, which had been divided between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

    On Monday 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who are loyal to the Minister of the FCT, Wike, decamped from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which is the ruling party in the state, to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a Rivers State High Court, in Port Harcourt, declared Edison Ehie, a loyalist of Governor Fubara, as Speaker of the Assembly and on Wednesday, the Assembly Complex was demolished.

    However, responding to the query on the federal government’s position, Idris said though a party in the crisis, Chief Wike, is a member of the Cabinet, the crisis has nothing to do with the federal government, neither is it the central government’s position.

    Asked whether the federal government shared Wike’s position on the matter as a member of the federal cabinet, the Information Minister said: “Well, he is a federal cabinet member; he is involved in the situation in the state. That cannot be a federal government position. How can it be the federal government’s position?

    “Well, the federal government is always interested in the well being of all the states, and in that direction the federal government will always align with everyone in Nigeria to make sure that there is peace and tranquility in all parts of this country. 

    “But you know that what has happened in Rivers is not a creation of the federal government. It is a political problem that is brewing in the state.

    Read Also: Peterside to Tinubu: save Rivers from going up in flames

    “Of course, the government will ensure that there is peace and stability for all Nigerians, including River State, but you can’t say that this is a creation of the federal government. The federal government never had any hand in creating that problem”, he said.

    On the allegation raised by Asari Dokubo, accusing President Bola TInubu of ignoring the festering crisis in Rivers State, the government’s spokesman noted that what the leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force said is only advisory.

    He said: “I saw Asari Dokubo’s message. It was an advisory. He made an advisory and when you make an advisory, you allow time to see whether the person you have given the advice will look at it again and come back to you. 

    “That does not suggest anything. That doesn’t suggest that the federal government created that problem. It was never a creation of the federal government. It is a creation of the political situation in River state.”

  • Rivers crisis: Ehie, three others declare seats of 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike vacant

    Rivers crisis: Ehie, three others declare seats of 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike vacant

    A factional speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara on Wednesday, December 13, declared the seats of the 27 members of the House, who recently defected to the All Progressives vacant.

    The 27 legislators who supported Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, recently dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in an effort to remove the state governor.

    The affected lawmakers were not present at the sitting where their seats were declared vacant.

    The four-member Assembly announced that the decision to declare the seats vacant was by Section 109 (1) (g) and 2 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

    Read Also: Why we demolish Assembly Complex – Rivers govt 

    After reading the names of the impacted legislators, the speaker urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to hold new elections within the legally mandated window of time to occupy the roles.

    He said: “Distinguished colleagues, the House will duly inform the Independent National Electoral Commission of the vacancies in the Rivers State House of Assembly and indeed, conduct a fresh election to fill the above vacancies.”

  • UPDATED: Rivers govt begins demolition of assembly complex

    UPDATED: Rivers govt begins demolition of assembly complex

    Rivers Government has begun the demolition of the House of Assembly complex to give way for its rebuilding, following the recent fire that gutted parts of the building.

    The demolition started at about 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday with the chambers and auditorium.

    The process is in progress and may other segments of the building may be affected.

    Meanwhile, the Edison Ehie-led four-member faction of the assembly has officially relocated sittings to the Government House.

    While the demolition was ongoing, the House, presided over by it’s factional Speaker, Edison Ehie (PDP-Ahoada 11), has commenced sitting.

    Read Also: Why we demolish Assembly Complex – Rivers govt 

    During the sitting marking the first official plenary, Mr Adulphus Timothy (PDP-Opobo/Nkoro) was elected Leader of the factional assembly.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that amongst other rulings, the High Court in the state had considered the request brought forward by the Governor, Mr Siminialayi Fubara, to allow for tempory relocation of the parliarment’s sittings to a more conducive atmosphere.

    According to the governor’s request, the relocation will ensure that legislative business of the house remained uninterrupted while renovation on the Assembly building took effect.

    (NAN)