As Fubara Gets Short End of the Stick 

With the widespread condemnation of the agreement between Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, and his predecessor and Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, the agreement may not engender permanent peace, Blessing Ibunge writes

For many who have closely been following the political crisis in Rivers State, if the Monday’s peace deal between Governor Siminalayi Fubara, and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, is expected to bring an end to the political crisis in the oil-rich state, it has made a mockery of democracy.

Recall that since October, there has been tension in the state over the feud between Fubara and Wike, who is also the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In the wake of the crisis, the Rivers State House of Assembly commenced impeachment proceedings against Fubara, which the governor’s loyalists kicked against. Thereafter, 27 lawmakers defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Subsequently, the factional Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie declared the seats of the lawmakers who defected vacant.

On Monday, Fubara and Wike agreed to end the political feud between them in a meeting with Tinubu. According to the resolutions reached at the meeting, all parties to the crisis agreed that the factional Speaker of the state assembly, Martin Amaewhule, and 24 other lawmakers whose seats were declared vacant following their defection from the PDP to the APC, should return to the assembly with their remuneration paid, and that Governor Fubara should henceforth not interfere with the funding of the assembly.

As part of the deal, the pro-Wike lawmakers would drop their impeachment plot against the governor. Fubara is also to immediately withdraw all court cases he and his camp instituted in respect of the crisis, and that the lawmakers shall choose where to sit and conduct legislative business without interference or hindrance from the executive arm.

To further spite the governor, the names of all the pro-Wike commissioners who resigned from the state executive council would be resubmitted to the state House of Assembly for confirmation as commissioners. On the issue of the 2024 budget which was passed and signed into law, Fubara was asked to present it again to all the lawmakers, including the ones whose seats had been declared vacant.

But immediately the terms of the agreement were leaked to the public, many Nigerians who were sympathetic to Fubara’s cause were outraged. They described Tinubu’s second intervention in the crisis as one-sided and an attempt to perpetuate Wike’s constant interference in the affairs of the state.

While there were speculations on whether Fubara actually signed the peace deal, those who spoke to THISDAY alleged that the president imposed agreement on the governor. They therefore urged the people of the state to rise up to salvage their state.

For instance, member of the Rivers State Elders and Leaders Forum, David Briggs, who said he was present during Tinubu’s intervention, said the agreement was imposed on Governor Fubara.

Briggs, who appealed to patriots in the state and across the country to take steps to ensure that the president’s action did not belittle the constitution, disclosed that contrary to impression that an understanding was reached at the end of the meeting, the president walked in with the controversial peace terms already drafted.

While noting that the president not only flashed the document in obvious attempt to intimidate the governor and the entire sitting, he claimed Tinubu actually declared it a presidential declaration that no one could afford to undermine. 

This is why former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, said the president did not broker peace in Rivers, but merely used his office to enhance the fortunes of his party, APC.

He accused the National Working Committee (NWC) the PDP of docility, adding that it was inconceivable that the party allowed its arch-rival, Tinubu, to intervene in the dispute between Fubara and Wike.

But while Governor Fubara has said no amount of sacrifice was too much for peace, and pledged to continue to make sacrifices for peace in the state, many have maintained that the agreement is not binding on him to implement. They appealed to him to resist any attempt by any force to interfere in his government.

First to criticise the deal was human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, who said President Tinubu “has no constitutional role” to resolve the political crises in Rivers and Ondo states.

In a statement, Falana said: “The seats of the cross-carpeting members have been declared vacant by the Speaker known to law. To that extent, the Independent National Electoral Commission is mandatorily required to conduct the by-election once the ex parte order issued by the Federal High Court last Friday is quashed,” the statement reads.

“The 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who decamped from the PDP to APC have lost their seats because the PDP that sponsored them is not fictionalised or divided as stipulated by the Constitution.

“Even if all the cases in the Rivers State High Court and the Federal High Court are withdrawn in line with the advice of the President, it is submitted that all actions taken by the Speaker recognised by the Rivers State High Court, remain valid, including his pronouncement on the vacant seats of the 27 cross carpeting members of the House,” Falana argued.

In its reaction, a group of Rivers political leaders, under the aegis of the Rivers State Elders and Leaders Forum, said although it solicited Tinubu’s intervention in the crisis in the state, it was at loss as to whether the president’s intervention had solved the problem or escalated it.

It argued that the directive to re-present the budget passed and signed into law is an attempt to ridicule and denigrate the office of the governor and the good people of the state, including the judiciary.

The Rivers’ elders, in a communique signed by a former governor of the state, Rufus Ada-George, on behalf of members of the forum, said the directives unilaterally suspended the Nigerian Constitution by virtue of an attempt to reverse the court order which recognised Ehie as the speaker of the assembly.

They said the directives contravene the doctrine and practice of separation of powers particularly as it affects the responsibility of the judiciary.

The communique read: “That the directive also contravenes the hallowed doctrine and practice of separation of powers, particularly as it affects the responsibility of the judiciary. Can the president or the executive arm of government overrule the decisions of courts of competent jurisdiction? This portends executive rascality which undermines our constitutional democracy, rule of law and good governance.

“The directives to the parties were one-sided in favour of Chief Nyesom Wike, and at the detriment of the Governor, Siminialayi Fubara, and the good people of Rivers State.

“In the eyes of the law and due process, as evidenced by the Rivers State High Court decision, Martins Amaewhule and his team have ceased to exist in the state House of Assembly having defected to another political party, and therefore cannot be reinstated and remunerated through the back door.”

With the governor holding the short end of the stick, many are waiting to see if the implementation of the agreement will bring permanent peace in the state.