Rivers State is quickly becoming the centre of the absurd in recent times, due to the level of political violence that is going on in the state. The hell was let loose after the declaration of 22 out of the 23 local government seats won by the Allied Peoples Party (APP) in the just concluded October 5th LGA elections, 2024, by the chairman of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), Justice Adolphus Enebeli (rtd), leaving the Action Alliance (AA) to win a seat in Etche Local Government.
The elected chairmen were sworn in on Sunday by the Rivers State Governor, His Excellence Siminayali Fubara, with the Chairman of the PDP Governor’s Forum, His Excellence, Bala Muhammed of Bauchi State, and on the assumption of office on Monday, met with violent resistance by the faction of the FCT Minister, Barr. Eyesom Wike, that no less than four Local Government Council Headquarters were attacked on Monday, 6th of October, 2024, leading to some sections of the Council Secretariat being gutted with fire in Eleme, Ikwerre, Obio/Akpor, and Ahoda-East LGAs.This violent eruption necessitated the urgency of the IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, to direct the unsealing and withdrawal of police officers in all the 23 LGAs providing security to the council headquarters, thereby orchestrating a likelihood of total breakdown of laws and order in the affected LGAs before Mr. President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, wades into the situation by directing the IGP to order the Commissioner of Police, Bala Mustapha, to protect lives and public facilities, maintain law and order in Rivers State, and prevent further arsonists and hoodlums from gaining access to the premises.
The build-up to the elections did not promise a violence-free poll because of the tension created by the two factions. The matter was made much bleaker when the Inspector-General of the Nigerian Police Force announced that the Nigerian Police would not be participating in the election based on an ex parte order of an Abuja Federal High Court on the 30th of September, 2024, restraining the commission from taking part in the elections. The case was instituted by the All Progressive Congress (APC), River State, and was argued on behalf of APC by a team of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), Justice Joseph Dauda, Sebastine Hon, and Ogwu James Onoja.
Delivering judgement in the case, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, barred the National Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the voter register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for the conduct of the October 5th LGA elections. -Barrs the Inspector-General of Police and the Department of State Service (DSS) from providing security. -Faults RSIEC for October 5th, 2024, as the election date without strict compliance with all relevant laws guiding the elections.
It also ruled that RSIEC acted in complete violation of the Local Government Electoral Conduct Law by not publishing the compulsory 90-day notice before fixing the update and revision of the voter register ought to have been concluded before an election date could be legally and validly fixed in law.
He finally ordered RSIEC not to accept any voter registration from INEC for the election.In addition to this, there were protests held by the two factions loyal to Wike and Fubara. While the PDP members loyal to the FCT Minister were seen carrying protest placards with the descriptions “Election will not hold” and “Fubara, obey court order.” Pro-Fubara, the now-estranged political son of Wike, held placards with captions: “Election must hold,” “Emperor Wike must go.” Already, both the PDP, APC, and LP had written that they wouldn’t be participating in the elections; this development prompted Fubara, who is a member of the PDP, to direct his loyalists to defect to the APP to contest the elections based on his consultation with the PDP Governors Forum and the former President of Nigeria and the PDP 2023 Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. This was after the National Working Committee of the PDP led by the Acting Chairman, Amb. Umaru Damagun landed in the state part of the structure of the party to the FCT Minister’s controlled faction instead of the governor, making Wike the leader of the party in the state, a development that caused Fubara to boycott the Rivers PDP State Congress conducted on September 7th Congress.
Furthermore,everyone seems to have forgotten how the same Emperor made Fubara win against all odds.So many have also forgotten that Fubara wasn’t anywhere near Hon. Barr. Isaac Kamalu, from Alode, the immediate past Commissioner of Finance. It took the emperor great time and undaunted efforts to win over the hearts of others who stepped down for Fubara and as well, galvanise a team alongside him to ensure Fubara didn’t lose that election.
It was the”emperor” against all who swore that Fubara was unfit to be a “commissioner,” let alone a governor of Rivers State. In one of the meetings, Fubara was described as “that little rat” by one of the elders, who was greatly opposed to Fubara’s candidacy. Yet the Emperor did everything to ensure that he was declared, even against the wishes of the PDP’s presidential candidate and running mate, who wished to shame the now Emperor, that all PDP candidates standing in for elections in Rivers States and the G-5 associates lose.
Today,he is reeling out press releases praising how good Fubara is and how devilish the Emperor was and is.Kudos to Tonye Cole, the 2023 APC governorship candidate, for his boldness in naming four key people who must sit on the roundtable to bring the ongoing political turmoil in Rivers State to a halt, such as Dr. Peter Odilli, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Barr. Eyesom Wike, and Fubara.
He went further to add that, tentatively, Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should preside over the meeting and that anything short of this is counterfeit. Interestingly, two of these two characters played zero roles in his elections to become governor. Then, the question is, “Why their inclusion?” It is very funny when some people were saying that the Emperor was overbearing.
He is too greedy. He wants to snuff out life out of Fubara. And I tell you something: “You cannot love Fubara more than the Emperor,” and that is it! You may differ in your views, which is respected. I so much praise Cole’s courage to mention these four characters in this saga because it is like nobody is seeing the unseen hands of these actors. Odili, as the father of them all, whether you agree to this or not, sits at the “epicentre of this political turmoil.”
He understands the grand currency of the circumstances and historical dynamics that are going on, which is nothing but who is going to control the political stool of Rivers State; hence, the emperor fancied his chances but only has a political ulcer and running nose because his enemies, who seem to be losing out of the power play both in the state and federal levels want to take their pounds of flesh on him and possibly reclaim their position in the state.
Whether good or bad, the natural laws of sowing and reaping forbid one from reaping where he did not sow. And if you wish someone who sows yam not to reap the fruit of his or her labour, I leave you to your conscience. Probably some of us still don’t know that in 2008, the emperor escaped assassination several times because he wore a campaign T-shirt, “Amaechi on My Mind.” To buttress this, you cannot talk about modern Rivers State without Odilli, Amaechi, Wike, and now Fubara. Because Amaechi wouldn’t have become the governor of Rivers State if not for being the speaker of the Rivers State Assembly under Dr. Peter Odilli.
Wike was appointed the chief of staff under Amaechi’s administration as the governor. Fubara served as the accountant-general of the state under Wike’s reign as the governor. All of these characters, named by Tonye Cole, understand the history of this crisis and have their signatories in the state in good and bad times, including now. I agree with Mr. Cole that only these respected heavyweights on their own accord can settle the ongoing political crisis in Rivers State before it further degenerates into armed struggle, which would exacerbate the already fragile polity and plummet the economy.
Everything must not be politics. There is always a time to place humanity above politics, and that time may wait no longer. Let Dr. Peter Odilli reach out to Rotimi Amaechi, Eyesom Wike, and Fubara and invite Mr. President for a peace accord. Because all of them are the proteges of his political tutelage family. Enough of this political impasse. Let there be peace in Rivers State!
John Mbonu Uchenwoke-Ekperechi is a graduate of History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the editor-in-chief of Inside Agwa News, a social analyst, and an education/civic rights campaigner who writes from Owerri, Imo State.
