As Fubara, Rivers Lawmakers’ Feud Deepens

Despite the peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu, which halted the planned impeachment of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, the recent resolutions of the state House of Assembly stripping the governor of the power to appoint caretaker committees for local government areas and reversing his recent appointment of heads of agencies in the state have shown that the lawmakers have not sheathed their swords, Ejiofor Alike reports

When Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State was given the short end of the stick in the peace accord brokered by President Bola Tinubu to resolve the political crisis in the state last December, many analysts had believed that the state House of Assembly would allow the governor to exercise the powers enjoyed by other serving governors and his predecessors.

President Tinubu had presided over a meeting at the State House, Abuja, of critical stakeholders in the politics of the state where the crisis between Fubara and his godfather and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, was resolved.

At the end of the meeting, an eight-point communique was jointly signed by Fubara; Wike; Deputy Governor of the state, Prof Ngozi Odu; National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Martin Amaewhule; PDP Chairman in the state, Aaron Chukwuemeka and his APC counterpart, Tony Okocha.

The communique had directed that all matters instituted in the courts by Fubara, and his team, in respect of the political crisis in the state, be withdrawn immediately.

While all impeachment proceedings initiated against the governor by the state House of Assembly should be dropped immediately, the communique said the leadership of the state House of Assembly as led by Amaewhule should be recognised alongside the 27 members who resigned from the PDP.

Fubara was also directed to re-present the state’s budget to a properly constituted state House of Assembly, while the names of all commissioners in the Rivers State Executive Council who resigned their appointments because of the political crisis in the state should be resubmitted to the House of Assembly for approval.

Among other resolutions, which were also not in favour of the governor, the communique also directed that there should not be a caretaker committee for the local governments in the state, while the dissolution of the local government administration by the governor was rendered null and void.

While many Nigerians, especially Fubara’s loyalists and other anti-Wike elements had condemned the resolutions and urged the governor to reject the peace accord on the grounds that he was shortchanged, the governor had declared that he accepted the terms of the deal for peace to reign in the state.

In a statewide broadcast to mark the 2023 Christmas celebration, Fubara said the terms of the pact were not as bad as perceived by people.

“It is certainly not a death sentence. It offers some way towards lasting peace and stability in our dear state,” Fubara reportedly said.

Fubara further revealed that both parties in the crisis had taken bold steps in the implementation of the presidential proclamation, heightening the belief that the political crisis in the state was over.

However, with the political developments in the state since the peace accord was signed, particularly the recent resolutions of the state’s lawmakers, the crisis appears far from over.

First, the lawmakers had recently stripped the governor of power to appoint caretaker committees for local government areas in the state after rejecting the governor’s veto against the legislation.

The lawmakers overwhelmingly voted against Fubara’s veto, before passing the bill barring the governor from appointing caretaker committees for LGAs into law.

The action of the lawmakers has effectively barred Fubara from exercising the power enjoyed by other serving and past governors in the country, including his predecessor, Wike.

The three-year tenure of the current council officials in the state who were elected in 2021 will expire within the first quarter of this year.

The Speaker of the assembly, Amaewhule, had during plenary, read four letters addressed to him by the governor where Fubara declined assent to four new bills, which had been sent to him for assent.

Citing Section 100, subsection 5 of the Nigerian Constitution, the lawmakers said the assent of the governor was not required for the passage into law of the said bills.

The section states that, “where the governor withholds assent and the bill is again passed by the House of Assembly by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the Governor shall not be required.”

The speaker accused the governor of not planning to conduct local government elections in the state.

The speaker said: “The key thing here is that this law removes the power of the governor to appoint caretaker committee chairmen for the local governments; the governor is not happy that we are removing his powers to appoint caretaker chairmen.”

The lawmakers also passed into law three other bills, which the speaker said were vetoed by the governor. They are: Rivers State Traditional Rulers Amendment Law; the Rivers State Advertisement and Use of State- Owned Property Prohibition repeal law; and the Rivers State Funds Management and Financial Autonomy Law.

Being the first time that the pro-Wike state assembly has overrode Fubara’s veto, the lawmakers’ action was an indication of unending political crisis, despite Tinubu’s peace deal.

Indications that the state lawmakers were determined to tackle the governor on all fronts further emerged when they asked the governor to withdraw some appointments, which they described as “illegal.”

In a letter addressed to the governor and signed by the speaker, Amaewhule, the lawmakers rejected three appointments, including the appointment of Goodlife Ben as the acting chairperson of the Rivers State Local Government Service Commission.

The speaker said Ben’s appointment contravened Section 44(3) of the Rivers State Local Government Law No 5 of 2018, while the appointment of Ine Briggs as the acting director-general of the Bureau for Public Procurement contravened Sections 5(1) of the Rivers State Public Procurement Law No. 4 of 2008.

The state House of Assembly further said that the appointment of Tonte Davies as Acting Administrator of a non-existent New Cities Development Authority (NCDA) is not backed by any legislation, stressing that the governor cannot on his own or by executive fiat create this agency without legislation from the state assembly.

The lawmakers said the appointments violate the Nigerian Constitution and other extant laws.

“We call on you to withdraw these appointments without further delay,” the lawmakers ordered the governor.

Political analysts believe that all these allegations of constitutional breaches made against Fubara for exercising powers that are enjoyed by other governors were not only signs of frosty relationship between him and the state lawmakers, they also showed that the impeachment plot against the governor is still on the cards.