Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubura (middle) addressing newsmen in front of Rivers State House of Assembly in Port Harcourt, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN
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The political stalemate in Rivers State took a fresh turn yesterday, with the State House of Assembly and forces in the opposition camp appearing set, not for reconciliation, but for the removal of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Coming just a day after President Bola Tinubu at a meeting with Niger Delta elders washed off his hands from the crisis, a protagonist in the ensuing standoff, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, rebuffed all the scaremongering in some quarters, insisting that heaven would not fall if the Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly impeaches his successor, Fubara.
Speaking at a media parley yesterday in Abuja, Wike maintained that there would be nothing wrong if the state lawmakers decided to impeach Fubara for alleged impeachable offences, which, according to him, include withholding their salaries for months.
He said: “If you have committed an infraction of the constitution and the Assembly deems it fit to say, you should be impeached. I have heard people say: ‘Oh, if they impeach him, there will be a breakdown of law and order’. Rubbish! Nothing will happen.
“Tell me, who are the militants? Who is not a militant? Who is born as a militant? Who cannot blow the pipeline? Why do you arrogate power to a certain group of people? Ijaw people are the only people who can blow up the pipeline? What nonsense is that? Who told you Ogoni people cannot blow up pipelines? Who told you Ikwerre people cannot blow up pipelines? Why do we arrogate powers to people.?”
“Which threat? It does not exist. These are political things being planted by some people in government. All of us know ourselves. You appoint the MD of NDDC, they threaten to blow pipelines. What kind of a country are we in? As a sitting President, you threaten me that if you follow what the court said you will blow off everywhere? Let the whole place be blown off.
“People must learn, enough is enough. You don’t tell anybody that. I was a governor and I saw a security report. I said this security report is fake. I told Director SSS this one is fake, take it out. I know where this one is coming from. You will see a security report you will laugh, planted by people in government who are in support of what the young boy is doing.”
He, however, submitted that for peace to return in the state, Fubara must re-present the 2025 budget to the State Assembly led by Amaewhule, and also resubmit the names of his commissioners for clearance. The FCT Minister said there is no way Fubara will have peace without doing the right thing.
However, signs that the pro-Wike lawmakers were working towards a predetermined end became evident yesterday morning as the governor, trying to toe the path of peace as instructed by the President was denied entry into the Assembly quarters.
The governor arrived at the House of Assembly Complex to present the 2025 budget in compliance with the Supreme Court judgment but met a locked gate with no security in sight nor any of the lawmakers.
Accompanied by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Tammy Danagogo; Chief of Staff, Edison Ehie; and some members of the state executive council, the governor arrived at the Assembly quarters with his security team and the media at about 11.00 a.m. The governor alighted from his car, stood briefly in front of the blocked gate, addressed the press and left with his men.
Fubara explained that he had made several attempts to contact the Speaker and other lawmakers, even writing a formal letter to inform them about his visit. He regretted that despite the efforts, he was still barred from entering the premises.
Moments after the governor left the Assembly premises, the Speaker, Amaewhule, arrived at 12:29 p.m. and commenced sitting with his colleagues. During the sitting, the lawmakers feigned ignorance of the governor’s visit as no comment was made about it while they deliberated on the agenda of the day, top of which was the invitation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), to investigate the activities of the chairman of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), Justice Adolphus Enebeli, over his role in the annulled October 5, 2024 Local Government elections.
After plenary, the Assembly disagreed with the claims by Fubara that he was blocked from entering the House to re-present his 2025 Appropriation Bill. The House said it never received any official communication from the governor indicating his interest in bringing his appropriation bill to the floor of the House.
Spokesperson of the House and Chairman, House Committee on Information, Dr Enemi Alabo George, described the claims of the governor as a mere comedy skit scripted to paint the House in a bad light.
George recalled that on March 3, the House of Assembly wrote to the governor requesting him to bring his 2025 appropriation bill to the lawmakers following the judgment of the Supreme Court.
“But he still did not heed our call forgetting that there are essential services like hospitals, schools and others to be funded. Our intention was to finish everything about the budget on March 15, so that we could send necessary information and documents to relevant agencies of the government to allow the release of Rivers allocations at the end of March. But with what he is doing, we don’t know what he wants to achieve.
“How can he turn around to claim that we blocked him from re-presenting his budget? This is the height of sincerity. We even need the budget to be passed because the governor has been owing us our entitlements for more than a year and without the budget we can’t get our entitlements.”
Besides, George insisted that the letter the governor claimed that he sent to the Speaker never got to him, adding that it was after Wednesday’s sitting that the lawmakers saw the letter flying on social media.
Unperturbed, the embattled Rivers governor has said he is ready to re-present the 2025 budget to the Assembly whenever the lawmakers are prepared.
Fubara stated this on Wednesday while speaking to residents of Khana Local Government Area during the commissioning of health facilities. This came shortly after he was denied entry into the Assembly quarters.
The governor, who expressed displeasure over the lawmakers’ actions, insisted that he had already informed Speaker Martins Amaewhule about his visit. “I still believe, maybe, they might be instructed later. If they are instructed, I’m still ready to come any day to get this particular issue sorted out,” Fubara said.
Meanwhile, the Tony Okocha led-All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that the governor would still be impeached if he fails to resign. Recall that Okocha had on Monday, ordered the governor to resign in 72 hours or be impeached. Okocha, a strong Wike ally, declared that the governor had already flouted the laws that warrant impeachment.
Okocha said: “One of the aberrations is for the governor to ignore the judgment of Justice James Omotosho, which nullified the 2024 budget passed by the Edison Ehie-led Assembly and directed him to recognise Amaewhule as the legitimate Speaker, but the governor snubbed the judgment.”
Also, former federal lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, yesterday suggested that “the ultimate goal is impeachment and not peace”. Sani was reacting to the latest development in the state after Fubara was denied access to the State House of Assembly.
“The ultimate goal in Rivers is impeachment and not peace; what happens afterwards is left to God,” Sani said.
But the opposition lawmakers’ coalition has vowed to resist the alleged plot by the Assembly to impeach Fubara.
At a press conference addressed by their spokesperson, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere on Wednesday at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, they also raised an alarm over an alleged fresh plot by pro-Wike group to destabilise Rivers, undermine the local government election and frustrate the passage of the 2025 budget as directed by the Supreme Court.
According to them, the pro-Wike lawmakers plan an amendment of the LGA law to frustrate the conduct of elections, to allow former local government chairmen whose tenure has gone into oblivion to come back. The coalition assured Rivers people that the election would be held as set by the electoral bodies, voting that no illegal amendment would stop the conduct of the elections.
While commending Fubara for adhering to the Supreme Court judgment despite provocation and betrayal of the peace accord by Wike, the lawmakers thanked Nigerians who have stood in defence of democracy, urging them to be courageous on all issues for the advancement of democracy.
Also, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Eastern Zone, has issued a stern warning against any attempt to impeach Fubara, vowing to resist such moves. In a communiqué jointly signed by its chairman, Ibiso Harry, and Secretary, John Amos Benjamin, the IYC emphasised that any effort to destabilise the government would have serious consequences for the state’s stability and the welfare of its people.
The group accused former governor Wike and the Amaewhule-led Assembly of fueling the crisis in a bid to control the state’s resources. “The bone of contention in this crisis is the desperate attempt by the FCT Minister to maintain control over the state’s resources, which Governor Fubara has firmly resisted,” he said.
The IYC also condemned the alleged move to halt federal revenue allocation to the state, warning that such action would have dire consequences on civil servants and critical sectors like healthcare and education.
Meanwhile, the Pan Niger Delta Elders Forum (PANDEF) has described as “provocative” the actions of Amaewhule, which did not receive Fubara at the Assembly quarters to present the 2025 budget.
The Guardian
