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Gov. Fubara signs own death sentence, surrenders Rivers to APC
By OBINNA EZUGWU
The agreement purportedly reached at a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, between Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Siminalayi Fubara, Rivers State governor, has jolted many in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who have called it what it is, an All Progressives Congress (APC) takeover of the oil rich state through the back door.
Among the resolutions said to have been reached at the meeting held in Aso Rock on Monday, which had Peter Odili, a former governor of the state and Vice President Kashim Shettima in attendance, was that the leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly as led by the Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule shall be recognised alongside the 27 members who resigned from the PDP to join the APC.
This would automatically mean a clear APC majority in the state assembly, a dangerous trap for the governor who remains a member of the PDP.
The factional leadership of the house, headed by Edison Ehie, had declared the seats of the defected members vacant, in line with the provisions of the 1999 constitution, and a high Court in the state had recognised his faction as the authentic faction, even if there are only five members in it.
Many have called out the agreement as an aberration.
“A new dawn in Nigerian politics. Brokered agreement replaces law. A Governor will represent an Appropriation Act to be passed again and signed again,” noted Sam Amadi, public affairs analyst and Director, Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts. “Political wizardry is not a good thing. When your president is both a wizard and a sorcerer, constitutional democracy is gone.”
With the agreement, others say Fubara would lose every gains he has made, in a exchange for the obvious Greek gift of impeachment proceedings against him being suspended. According to the agreement, he’s also to represent the state budget before the house.
“This appears more like a military decree,” noted Inibehe Effiong, @InibeheEffiong, lawyer and rights activist. “A governor is forced to continue to work with hostile Commissioners who have shown public aversion towards him. I didn’t see where the lawmakers who decamped were directed to return to the PDP. If they remain in the APC, they must lose their seats.”
Many have pointed out that while the agreement may bring momentary peace in the state, it may be tantamount to Fubara, who already had edge in his battle with Wike, throwing in the towel.
“I have now read the Rivers agreement. The accord will remove the knife from the neck of Sim and set it behind his back,” noted the usually sarcastic Senator Shehu Sani, @ShehuSani, former Kaduna central senator. “The accord will bury the hatchets with leaves. The accord outwardly sells peace, but internally buys time for another round of war. However, it can be better if the dialogue is periodically assessed and improved upon.”
Commentators are in agreement that the supposed truce, which sources have said Fubara has indeed rejected, is unconstitutional, and have encouraged the governor not to honour same.
“The part that surprised me the most is that the President of Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu will suspend the constitution under a constitutional democracy,” noted Daniel Bwala, a lawyer and member of the PDP in an interview.
“What they call directive or the resolution from the meeting is to the effect that the house of assembly members who defected should go back and continue with their legislative duties. In other words, do not proceed with the plan to conduct election and bring in new people. That means they are going back into the chambers to operate as members of the APC.
“There is a court order that said the remainder of the house of assembly members constituted a quorum. That means that the presentation of the budget was carried out under the due process of law.
“There was an order of the court that authenticated what they did. Now, for the president of the federal republic of Nigeria being aware that the steps they took were supported by law, to still preside over a meeting that would ask him to go back and undo the order of the court; to go back and undo constitutional procedures , it means that the president who swore to preserve the constitution spurned the constitution in order to carry out political activities for the benefit of either his party, himself or his 2027 ambition. Right now, the good people of Rivers are thrown under the bus.”
“As the chief executive of a state, Governor Fubara has all the powers that Tinubu has at the federal level. He is the leader of the party in the state; he is the chief executive. There are elder in Rivers, I doubt if they are aware of this resolution. I doubt it it was not obtained under duress.”
PDP members kick
Meanwhile, while the national leadership of the PDP hasn’t responded to the agreement, some members of the party have been reacting.
Emmanuel Enoidem, SAN, @enoidem1964, former PDP national legal advisor, in a post on X, argued that President Tinubu has no constitutional powers to intervene in Rivers as he did.
“The president does not have the powers to issue this kind of directive when the matter is pending in court and orders were made, enrolled and issued,” he said.
“The estranged members of the Assembly cannot return because their seats have been constitutionally vacated by the House of Assembly.
“Which political party are those members: APC or PDP? As APC members they have lost their membership except they renounce their defection.
The governor of Rivers State @SimFubaraKSC, must know that this is a Booby Trap. It is a time bomb. If it is not detonated today, definitely it surely will tomorrow.
“The Governor of Rivers State must know that he has won this war already. He should not chicken out. This intervention by the president is certainly not in his best interest. The president is only buying time for members of his party to consolidate on their strategy and launch back having realised that the Governor has won the war over his team in Rivers State.”
On his part, Kola Ologbondiyan, @officialKolaO, the immediate past national publicity secretary of the party, argued that the supposed agreement is an abuse of the constitution, while asking Fubara not to obey same.
“The Asiwaju Declarations on Rivers State are unconstitutional and a wholesome abuse of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),” he said.
“The law is that @inecnigeria holds election in the vacant seats of the Rivers House of Assembly in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“Bola Tinubu, as a major beneficiary of our constitutional democracy, must not be allowed to turn our nation into a banana republic where anything goes.”
Fubara not party to deal
Meanwhile, sources close to the Rivers governor have disclosed that he is not party to the agreement and is unlikely to honour same.
According to the sources, Tinubu only surprisingly read out the said agreement after meeting the governor and Peter Odili privately, during which time he informed the governor that he had no issues with him.
“The said agreement was like an ambush,” a source close to the governor said. Fubara didn’t agree, and will not agree to those conditions.”
