THE RIVERS STATE DEBACLE

By Paul Inyabri, Political Watcher

Contrary to what the newspapers reported that the President, Bola Tinubu, convened a meeting between Mr. Siminalayi Fubara and Barr Nyesom Wike to settle the Rivers State crises, it was the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu that
convened the meeting, but it was chaired by the President, Bola Tinubu. The Governor of Rivers State,

Mr. Siminalayi Fubara was led to the meeting by Dr. Peter Odili, the Frm. Governor of Rivers State.
In the meeting were:
ï‚· Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, Governor Rivers state.
ï‚· Barr Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT
ï‚· Dr. Peter Odili, fmr. Governor, Rivers State.
ï‚· Chief Tony Okocha , River State APC caretaker committee Chairman.
ï‚· Mr. Martins Amaewhule, Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly.
ï‚· Some elders in Rivers State.

The 8 point resolutions are:
1..All matters that are instituted in the court by the governor of Rivers state Sim Fubara and his team in respect of the political crisis in Rivers state shall be withdrawn IMMEDIATELY.
2..All impeachment proceedings initiated against the Governor of Rivers state by the state House of Assembly should be dropped immediately.
3..The leadership of the Rivers state House of Assembly as led by Rt Hon. Martins Amaewhule shall be
recognized alongside the 27 members who resigned from the PDP.
4.. The remuneration and benefits of all the members Rivers House of Assembly and their staff must be
reinstated immediately and the Governor of Rivers state shall henceforth not interfere with the full
funding of the Rivers state House of Assembly.
5..Rivers state House of Assembly shall choose where the want to seat and conduct their legislative
business without interference and/or hindrance from the executive arms of government.
6..The Governor of Rivers State shall re-present the budget to the constituted Rivers state House of
Assembly.
7..The name of all commissioner in the executive council who resigned their appointment because the political crisis in the state should be re submitted to the House of Assembly for approval.
8..There should not be a caretaker committee for the Local Government in Rivers state, the
dissolution the Local Government administration is null and void and shall not be recognized.

Signed by
Mr Siminalayi Fubara, Gov. River State.
Prof. Ngozi Odu, Dep Gov Rivers state.
Aaron Chukwuemeka, PDP chairman, Rivers State.
Rt Hon Martin Amaewhule, Speaker House of Assembly.
Chief Tony Okocha, APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, Rivers State.
Barr. Nyesom Wike, FCT Minister.
and of course Nuhu Ribadu NSA.

Daniel Bwala, a lawyer and a political commentator, commented on the issue, “it seems Mr. Sim
Fubara was cajoled and bullied into attending and signing to this resolution”. Leaked information revealed that, they did the Halilu Akilu(Col Retd) style to him, where DSS will show his file to him before the meeting. And of course, the rest is history.

BWALA’S STATEMENT:
“Gov. Fubara after he has fought and won all the battle at half time, everything has gone on his favor in terms of the individual who left the party, he has already sent a letter to INEC to
conduct a fresh election that will bring in new people, he got an order validating some of the
steps he took, he was able to pass the budget, he has actually succeeded on virtually every front.

Just after the victory, he now went to surrender the victory to his opponent. Now, this is the
part that surprised me and quite frankly I am surprised, that the President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu will
suspend the constitution under a constitutional democracy.., what they call directive or
resolution from this meeting, that one, the House of Assembly members that defected should
go back and continue their proceedings in other word, do not proceed with the plan to conduct
fresh election and bring in few people, that means they are going back to the House of
Assembly as members of the APC.

The House of Assembly members should not be denied their privileges, allowances and all
that..you should not fight Wike. Now look at this way, there was an order of court that said, the
remainder of the House of Assembly members constituted a quorum so that means the
presentation/validation of the budget was carried out under the due process of law under
constitutional democracy, there was an order that authenticated what they did eventually.,
Now for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria being aware of constitutional
democracy to still preside over a meeting to back and rewind, go back and undo the order of
court, go back and undo constitutional procedure it means the President who under Section 5
swore to the constitution to preserve this constitution and enforce..to carry out political activities
for the benefits of himself or his party or his 2027 ambition. And right now, the good people of Rivers State are thrown under the bus.
As chief executive officer of the state, Gov. Fubara has all the power and the trappings which the
President has in term of the nation, Gov. Fabara has, in terms of the state. He is the leader of the party in the state, he is the chief executive of the state.
I doubt if this resolution has the blessings of the elders, I doubt if it was not obtained under duress,
I doubt if Gov Fubara will be honest to himself and to his destiny that this was agreed for the
interest of Rivers state.

THE MAN WIKE
Barr Nyesom Wike is a brash, arrogant, has an over bearing attitude and is disrespectful to human and mankind,
he does not come to me as someone I can call Honorable or Distinguished.

Barr Wike was chairman of Obio/akpor Local Govt Area
in Rivers State from 1999-2002, after that he was made Chief of Staff to Fmr Gov Rotimi Amaechi, the then
Governor of Rivers state, sensing incompatibility, fmr. Gov Amaechi seconded him to Abuja as Minister
for State, Education(that was a mistake, he would have cast him into oblivion, probably assigning an ambassadorial position to him. For politicians, if they want to incarcerate a renegade politician and break his political
structure they make him an ambassador to a farther country, keeping him away from his people). But
Wike pitched his tent with Mrs Patience Jonathan who expressly made him governor of Rivers state. His reign as governor of Rivers state was full of drama. We will not forget in a hurry, how he made government house a safe heaven for a wanted person like Mr Fubara, then accountant general and Mrs Joy Nunieh of NDDC. How he will talk to traditional rulers in a condescending manner.

THE QUESTION NIGERIANS ARE ASKING IS:
-One of the things that shocked me the most, is that an elected governor will go and represent the
budget for the second time?
-What happens to the 27 House of Assembly members who defected to the APC? From
information gathered, according to the Supreme Court ruling, any elected officer who defect to another party when there is no crisis in the party will lose his seat, by so doing the 27 members are supposed to lose their seat and new election conducted.
-Are we saying that all the commissioner and aides who resigned from the exco will be recalled
according to the resolution?
-There are a lot of questions to be asked, why was Mr Edison Ehie not in the meeting, what is Chief
Tony Okocha doing in the meeting?
-If the table was turned around between Wike and Fubara, I don’t think Wike would have
attended the meeting.

• In the book, 48 LAWS OF POWER. If you want to start a fight, seat down and think about its
  ending.
  -In all this, where is the PDP and the Governors? They are leaving Governor Fubara to the den of lions.
  -President Tinubu is strategizing for 2027, and the APC want to take Rivers state, so the
  resolution was skewed towards them as Daniel Bwala said.
  -Does that mean, the constitution is being jettisoned for political interest?
  In all of this, there are a handful of questions left unanswered.
  Rivers state contribute 20% of Nigeria’s revenue, are we going to sit down and allow some
  political quagmire engulf Rivers state and indeed our dear nation?
  The president is looking at 2027, we saw Ondo state where it was skewed to favour the APC, they
  are waiting for Kano State. If they can’t win at the pools, they will win at the court.
  I want to end with this,
  In the book written by Obafemi Awolowo. THE TRAVAIL OF DEMOCRACY,.
  .. “if we are related, we will surely meet again.” Politicians will meet again, the common goal keeping them together is greed and power, my worry is, the common Nigerian that will suffer and what is happening in Rivers state, sincerely only God know how it will end.