Ex-Rivers LG Chairmen Threaten Fire if Fubara Fails to Obey Apex Court Judgement

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The immediate past local government council chairmen in Rivers State have threatened to hit the street and forcefully take over their positions in the councils if Governor Siminalayi Fubara refuses to obey the recent judgement of the Supreme Court on the councils. 

The former chairmen who are loyal to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, made the threat during a briefing with journalists in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, yesterday.

Speaking, the former Emohua LGA Chairman, Chidi Lloyd, said they have been patient all the while expecting the governor of the state to do the needful as allegedly directed by the court, but regretted that he (Governor Fubara) has continued to work with the Caretaker Committee members at the council.

Lloyd alleged that the actions by the governor may breach the peace of the state, calling on the police authority at the national level to step up actions and stop the alleged activities of the CTC chairmen in the various LGAs of the state.

 “The Governor of Rivers state is reckless and has continued to act as if the state is a parallel state.

“The essence of this conference is to say that we are not cowards, if this continues we will go back to our local government and force ourselves into the council. We have kept quiet because of the kind of leader we have who continues from time to time to preach the path of peace.

“We are still the same wards that elected him into office as governor, when his local government produced less than 5,000 votes. If this continues, we will exacerbate the already exacerbated situation, we are not cowards.

“We are calling on the police to act fast. The Assembly had written to the Inspector General of Police and also resolved on the floor of the House on the police. We do not know why the police in Rivers is foot dragging and saying that things are done properly”.

He warned that the CTC chairmen stay away from their project sites, saying that  “anybody who deals with them, does so at his or her detriment. Any further impersonation, we will all hit the field, then in law, we will now know what the Supreme Court has said,” Lloyd noted. 

On his part, Hope Ikriko, immediate past chairman of Ahoada West Council, alleged that “The same governor that is vested with the power to maintain law and order failed us. We are not even saying we all are agitated, the people are agitated. They call us on a daily basis and we are the voice of the voiceless. That is why we are telling the government to work timely.

“Our governor doesn’t seem to be interested in peace, they are going about sealing properties belonging to perceived enemies. We are not afraid of them, but they should make sure there is peace and order in the state. As the governor is sealing properties, we will also visit his properties in the old GRA,” Ikriko added. 

Earlier, the former Mayor of Port Harcourt and Chairman of the immediate past Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) in the state, Allwell Ihunda, said the briefing was to drew the attention of President Bola Tinubu, National Assembly, judiciary, law enforcement agencies and Rivers people to the alleged “crass contempt of judgements of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court delivered on July 4, 2024 and July 11, 2024 respectively.”

Ihunda who spoke on behalf of the other aggrieved former chairmen, recalled that the Supreme Court ruling of July 11, 2024 which affirmed the autonomy of the LGA across the country, abolished the powers of the state governors to set up caretaker committees in to govern the local government councils in Nigeria as enshrined by Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution. 

He alarmed that just as other states governors had allegedly started obeying the order of the court, step down caretaker committees across the nation, “the situation in Rivers State is totally different”. 

The former mayor said, “In Rivers State, the State Government is busy promoting these illegal caretaker committees by encouraging the illegal caretaker committee chairmen and members to parade themselves as head of the Local Government Administration in the 23 Local Government Areas.”

Ihunda alleged that the CTC chairmen had “Lavish spending of about Forty billion naira (N40,000,000,000.00) that was confiscated from the Local Government Councils’ accounts being monies due to the councils between April 2024 and june 2024.”

The former council chairmen however, threatened to return back to the council if the caretaker committee did not step down at the various LGAs.

It would be recalled that based on a recent directive from the Inspector General of Police, following the political crisis in the state,  the 23 LGAs at the time of this report are still sealed and barricaded by the police.