The political conflict between Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his estranged godfather Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has escalated, involving the police in the dispute.
Wike and Fubara have been locked in a power struggle over control of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) structure in the state for several months.
The dispute between the two political bigwigs began a few months after Fubara became the Governor of Rivers State.
He had a falling out with Wike, who was reportedly his political sponsor. The exact reason for their conflict remains unclear, with various speculations and explanations offered by different people.
Some believe Wike aimed to maintain complete control over state affairs, while others claim he sought a significant portion of the state’s monthly allocation as compensation for facilitating Fubara’s governorship.
However, there is also a viewpoint that Fubara refused to accept any of Wike’s conditions, asserting that he was elected to serve the interests of the Rivers people, not Wike’s agenda.
Fubara’s purported defiance marked the beginning of a confrontation with Wike.
The conflict escalated when there was an attempt to impeach the governor, which prompted 27 lawmakers from the Rivers House of Assembly, led by Speaker Martins Amaewhule, to defect from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Analysts viewed this move as an initial step in a larger strategy to initiate impeachment proceedings against Fubara.
However, Fubara was not willing to sit idly by and be ousted. He swiftly took action, and the three lawmakers loyal to him elected a new Speaker, who promptly declared the seats of the 27 defectors vacant.
The Governor then presented the 2024 budget to these three members of the House and signed it into law after its approval.
Since that point, up until last Saturday’s local government elections for council chairmen and councilors, Fubara has faced a series of challenges.
Leading up to last Saturday’s election, many viewed the police’s involvement in the conflict with suspicion, accusing them of siding against the Governor.
This perception became evident when the Governor dissolved the former council executives at the end of their terms and appointed caretaker committees to replace them.
In response, the 27 defected lawmakers loyal to Wike, whose seats had been declared vacant, extended the tenure of the former council chairmen and councilors by six months.
Following the extension, the former chairmen and councilors were reluctant to leave their positions. When the Governor established caretaker committees to replace them, chaos ensued, leading to the police being deployed to seal off all local government secretariats in the state.
The 27 local government headquarters remained locked, with heavily armed police guarding them until Monday, October 7, the day after the newly elected chairmen and councilors were sworn in by the governor.
On Monday morning, Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun issued a statement directing the Rivers State Commissioner of Police to order his officers to immediately unseal and vacate all 27 local government secretariats.
Prior to this, the police had publicly declared that they would not provide security for the council elections held on Saturday, October 5. In response, the governor reportedly stated that regardless of whether the police provided security, the elections would proceed as planned.
This occurred after a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to supply the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) with the voters’ register for the local council election.
Simultaneously, a Rivers State High Court directed INEC to provide RSIEC with the voters’ register to facilitate the council election.
Given the conflicting rulings from two courts of equal jurisdiction, some believed the Governor would favor the Rivers State ruling, arguing that the matter should have remained within the state and not been taken to Abuja initially.
The Governor also contended that the Abuja high court did not prohibit the election from taking place; it merely stated that INEC should not provide RSIEC with the voters’ register, a decision that Fubara claimed would not prevent the election from occurring.
He expressed, “What concern does the IGP have in this matter? This demonstrates the level of impunity in this country. Clearly, there is another factor at play. Someone is paying to influence the situation; that is the reality.
The police are a federal agency acting under the influence of a particular individual, which makes this situation an act of lawlessness.”
No matter what you may say about Fubara and his tactics, some people are trying to rubbish him or twist his arms.
“The problems in Rivers State can be curtailed by the President calling Wike to order. But he will not do that because what Wike is doing is in favour of the APC and the President.
“The President should just call Wike to order. You cannot be a minister from the PDP and APC and try to run Rivers State indirectly; it is not done and that is the tragedy of what is happening. We are watching them,” he stated.
In his contribution, Alhaji Yusuf Shehu, a former Katsina State House of Assembly member described what is happening in Rivers as a matter between the state and the federal government.
He noted that the police didn’t act according to the constitution of the land.
He said: “There is no reason an individual should be directing the police on how to conduct their functions.
As the chief security officer of his state, the governor argued that the police should heed his instructions, provided they do not conflict with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, rather than taking orders from Abuja to withdraw the police personnel assigned to secure the local council secretariats.
He noted, “The result of that single action was that approximately six local government secretariats were set on fire by hoodlums.”
The police withdrawal is the reason for this situation. The governor had previously warned that such a withdrawal would create an opportunity for hoodlums to take control, and that is precisely what occurred.
Therefore, the police did not act professionally during the Rivers State local government election; their actions were biased, which is detrimental to our democracy.
