Uncertainty hangs over Sept 18 Fubara’s return

•Fear of Emergency Rule extension looms

•Lawmakers groan in silence

•As LG poll sets template for state capture

By Daniel Abia, Port Harcourt

On Saturday, August 30, during the local government elections in Rivers State, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Barr. Nyesom Wike hinted that the coast was clear for the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State to return to the Government House and resume his constitutional responsibilities.

By virtue of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s pronouncement on March 18, the declaration of emergency rule in the state was expected to last for six months, with a caveat to extend it if peace was still elusive after the initial six-month window. September 18 will therefore mark the first six months, and the heartbeat of many Rivers people is in acceleration mode.

Wike on the day of the local government election, said that Fubara may likely return on September 18. Wike may not be the President of the country and does not have the constitutional powers to nullify a declaration that was made by the Commander in Chief. But given his closeness to the corridors of power, Wike’s statement could be a bond.

Though the minister’s pronouncement may have rekindled hope for the historic return of Fubara who will go down in history as the most humiliated and deprived governor ever, not too many people have staked their faith on the September 18 date.

Wike, Okocha’s remarks on Fubara’s return

On the election day, Wike had said “by 18th of September, the state of emergency will expire and the governor and State House of Assembly will come back to their jobs”. He then went on to justify why it was necessary for the local government election to be conducted the way it was done saying, “the Supreme Court had nullified the other election (October 5, 2024), and if this election was not conducted, it means that there is no governance at the grassroots level”.

Corroborating Wike’s position, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Rivers state chapter, Chief Tony Okocha who is also a close ally of the FCT minister said with all certainty that “the governor who was suspended will return to office on 18th of September”. It is also believed that given his position in the APC and having ties with powers at the federal level, Okocha must have had privileged information on the possibility of returning Fubara to power.

Okocha during a press briefing in Port Harcourt went a bit further to give a clearer picture of what Rivers people and Nigerians should expect when Fubara eventually returns to office. He said, “APC will work with him when he returns. There are states where the Governor and Assembly members belong to different parties. We are going to work with him. However, that will not take away our rights to criticize him when he does wrong. But for us, the Local Government Area Chairmen will work with him except that we will not agree to vicious policies”, Okocha said.

This clearly underscores the fact that Fubara must implement all the agreements reached during the last peace deal which invariably means reducing him to just a ceremonial governor without a political structure of his own.

Fear of Emergency Rule extension

Despite the assurances by both Wike and Okocha, there is still fear that the emergency rule may be extended by three more months. Credible sources hinted that some groups working for the Rivers state sole administrator, retired Vice Admiral Ibok Etteh Ibas, are pushing for more time for him to finish some projects he embarked on. They believe that though Ibas inherited most of the projects, he will want to see them completed before handing over the state to the governor for a smooth run of governance.

One of such projects is the reconstruction of the demolished House of Assembly complex on Moscow Road. “It is the dream of the administrator to ensure that the Assembly Complex is completed and well-furnished so that the lawmakers may have a comfortable environment to do their jobs upon their return from suspension”, the source said.

Also, the ongoing verification exercise of civil servants in the state is a means of making more money for the state. Ibas had hinted that the exercise had yielded significant results as 37,703 workers were verified against a previous figure of over 43,000. Also, 19,186 state pensioners were verified against over the previous 25,500 while 2,004 local government pensioners verified out of over 2,600.

Some leaders of the labour unions had commended the administrator for the reforms. The State Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Alex Agwanwu, expressed delight at the gains of the exercise, noting that it has “fostered efficiency, transparency, and professionalism.” The Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Christopher Amadi, appreciated the fact that the exercise did not disrupt salary payments. With these facts, it is evident that some money is being saved for the state. It has also exposed some degree of corruption that had characterized the state civil service system over the years.

Distrust

Despite the positive indicators pointing to the direction of a return of Fubara, there is still the issue of distrust that needs to be resolved between the FCT minister Wike and the suspended Governor.

In the course of the political crisis which lasted for nearly two years in the state, both Wike and Fubara’s supporters have deep hatred and mistrust for one another and they are yet to come to terms with the peace deal. It will therefore take more than a mere political peace deal to completely heal.

On the day of the local government election, findings showed that Fubara’s men and allies shunned the exercise. They said that the FCT Minister had arrogated every political opportunity to himself and his associates to the detriment of Fubara and his supporters, hence, they boycotted the election.

According to one of Governor Fubara’s commissioners, “The crisis went too deep and will take a longer time of deliberate effort for genuine peace to heal. There must be a synergy between the governor and the Assembly members on one hand and a bond between the governor and the FCT minister on the other.

“No matter what anybody says or does, these two major gladiators will never trust each other again. The pain of the crisis went too deep. Wike feels betrayed by Fubara and Fubara on the other hand feels so disgraced and embarrassed by the suspension. The peace deal is just a smoke screen. There is so much underneath”.

Lawmakers’ regret

Investigations have also shown that the almost 6-month suspension has had its negative toll on the welfare of some of the Assembly lawmakers. This has caused some of them to regret the fight against Governor Fubara. One of the lawmakers was said to have opened up to a friend and said, “We were pushed by ‘oga’ (FCT minister) to embark on this meaningless fight. I have not even seen the crime Fubara has committed. We were pushed into this against our will. Things are not working well for some of us. We have families, we have children and relations to take care of. What about our numerous supporters all over the state? This is unfortunate”, he lamented. The lawmaker was quoted as saying that a lot of lies were told about Fubara. “But we soon discovered that all were lies. At that point, there was nothing we could do but to grudgingly push on”, he confessed.

Controversy over LG polls

In the suit SC/CV/1176/2024, the Supreme Court in its judgment between the Rivers State House of Assembly and others against Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, and nine others, the council election conducted by Governor Fubara on October 5, 2024 was declared invalid.

Justice Jamilu Tukur, in the lead judgment declared that the election did not follow due process and therefore was “unconstitutional”. The implication was that a fresh poll needed to be conducted and until that was done, the allocations due to the 23 councils would be withheld by the Federal Government. Despite the administrative and procedural lacuna that characterized the August 30th council election, it appears to look right in the eyes of those who are apostles of the emergency rule in the state. Everything about the last election was done with the speed of light leading to several missteps but both the authorities and powerful forces behind the Rivers state democratic twist turned blind eyes to these.

Objections to polls

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, which boycotted the poll made it clear that the exercise was conducted in brazen violation of the law. The Chairman of the party, Chief Leader Sampson, said the election was not only “illegal”, but “unconstitutional”.

He said, “The exercise was not only illegal and unconstitutional, but it also represents a brazen assault on democracy. It cannot and will not stand. This so-called election is nothing more than an attempt by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to impose his handpicked candidates on the people of Rivers State.

“We reject this desperate act of political manipulation. The absence of Rivers people from the polls was a thunderous and commendable rejection of this flagrant disrespect for democratic norms.

“As a law-abiding political party, the ADC refused to participate in this sham process. We will challenge it to a logical conclusion. We recall that during the national bye-elections earlier this year, INEC failed to conduct elections in Rivers State—specifically in Khana Constituency 2—on the ground that the State was under emergency rule and therefore unsafe”. Be that as it may, the election was one of the factors to speed up the return of Fubara. So, with the poll done and dusted, all eyes are now fixed on September 18 for the return of all democratic institutions in the state.

Ibas meets Tinubu

With the unconfirmed report that Ibas and President Tinubu had a private meeting in the Villa, Abuja last Wednesday, the September 18 date of lifting the emergency rule in state may be sacrosanct after all.

A source said that the closed door meeting between the President and the administrator may not be unconnected with the procedure of handing over power to Fubara. “The President is a very meticulous person. He wants to know how much Ibas made under the emergency rule, what he spent and on what specific projects and what is left in the coffers of the state”, he said.

The post Uncertainty hangs over Sept 18 Fubara’s return appeared first on Vanguard News.