Operation ‘Wetie’ in Rivers State: Genesis to Revelation

Since the return to civil rule in 1999, Rivers State, the acclaimed treasure base of Nigeria, has had five governors namely Peter Odili, Celestine Omehia, Chibuike Amaechi, Nyesom Wike, and now Simnalayi Fubara. The first major political crisis in the state happened in 2006 during the Peoples Democratic Party governorship nomination for the 2007 election. Ameachi had won the primary but ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo said his victory had k-leg–whatever that means–and as such, Ameachi was denied the party nomination, and the ticket was unjustly given to Celestine Omehia who did not participate in the PDP primary election. The Supreme Court nullified Omehia’s election on October 25, 2007, and asked that Amaechi be sworn in as governor.

It was what the lawyers call locus classicus. It was unprecedented for someone who did not campaign to be declared winner of the election and be asked to be sworn in ‘immediately’. The apex court reasoned that when people vote at elections, they are not voting stricto sensu for the candidate but the political party that sponsored them. This same principle of law was upheld by the Supreme Court in September 2016 when it ruled that the votes cast by the Kogi electorate purportedly for Prince Abubakar Audu who died before the conclusion of the November 2015 governorship election were cast for All Progressives Congress, and not for the dead candidate and as such Yahaya Bello who was eventually declared winner of the poll ‘inherited’ the votes.

During the tenure of Amaechi, Wike served as the Chief of Staff to the governor between 2007 – 2011. That was after he served as the Chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Government in Rivers State between 1999 – 2007.  Wike became Minister of State for Education between 14 July 2011 – April 2014. He had a bitter feud with his former principal; Ameachi, during this time, until Ameachi left PDP to join APC on November 26, 2013. Wike with the support of former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience Jonathan won the PDP governorship primary and went on to win the governorship poll in 2015. He later served the mandatory two terms as governor of Rivers State and left office on May 29, 2023. In the lead-up to the 2023 governorship election, Wike pulled all the strings to make his former Accountant-General of Rivers State, Fubara, governor.

It is widely rumoured that Wike bankrolled the elections of most of the elected political officeholders in Rivers State during the 2023 general elections. Little wonder he has the firm control of the Rivers State House of Assembly to date. Wike also nominated a sizeable number of commissioners in Fubara’s cabinet. At least nine of those who resigned their portfolios in May this year headed key ministries in the state such as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Finance, Education, Housing, Social Welfare, Environment, and Transport.

Governor Fubara only enjoyed about four months of peace after his inauguration as governor on May 29, 2023. The first sign of trouble took place on the night of Sunday, October 29, 2023, when an inferno gutted the assembly complex due to explosives purportedly ignited by unknown arsonists; by the dawn of Monday, October 30, the majority members of the assembly commenced impeachment proceedings against Fubara. They said he committed gross misconduct.

In the course of time, two factions of the House of Assembly emerged, both laying claim to be the authentic faction and having parallel sittings. The judiciary was dragged into the fray with both sides getting ex-parte orders and several court injunctions in their favour in Port Harcourt and Abuja. On Tuesday, December 12, Justice Monina Danagogo of the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt ruled that the authentic Speaker is Edison Ehie. The judge also restrained Martin Amaewhule and Dumle Maol from parading themselves as Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively, or interfering with the activities of Ehie as the Speaker of the Assembly. This emboldened Fubara as he hurriedly presented the state’s N800bn 2024 Appropriation Bill to a four-member Assembly on Wednesday, December 13, and signed same into law the following day.

Fubara ordered the demolition of the House of Assembly. The same day he presented the budget to the minority House, excavators, wheel loaders, and other earth-moving equipment moved to the Rivers State House of Assembly, not to refurbish the torched complex, but to level the structures to the ground. On Monday, December 11, twenty-seven Rivers State lawmakers loyal to Wike defected to the All Progressives Congress citing division within the Peoples Democratic Party as well as the refusal of the state governor to pay their salaries and allowances.

President Tinubu mediated the crisis. The content of the eight-point resolution signed by the mediators and warring parties in the Rivers State crisis on Monday, December 18, 2023, stated as follows: Governor Fubara and his allies will withdraw all court cases related to the crisis. The state House of Assembly will drop impeachment proceedings initiated against Fubara.  The leadership of the House, under Speaker Amaewhule, will be recognised, along with the 27 lawmakers who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party. Governor Fubara will re-present the 2024 budget to the Amaewhule-led Assembly. Others are; Salaries and benefits for all Assembly members and staff will be restored. The assembly will have autonomy to choose its location and conduct business without interference from the executive. The governor will resubmit the names of resigned commissioners for approval and the dissolution of local governments is declared null and void.

While Governor Fubara implemented most of the resolutions, he did not re-present the state budget to the Speaker Amaewhule faction. When the tenure of the 23 Local Government chairpersons and councillors ended in May 2024, the Amaewhule faction of the State House of Assembly extended their tenure by six months. However, in a May 21, 2024   judgment, Justice Daketima Kio declared that the new law was inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution and Section 9 (1) of Rivers State Law No. 5 of 2018, which fixed the tenure of Rivers LG chairmen and councillors at three years. Governor Fubara in June 2024 appointed caretaker committees to oversee the affairs of the 23 LGAs in the state pending the time the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission would conduct proper election into the councils.

However, the Supreme Court judgement of July 11, 2024, which granted financial autonomy to local governments in Nigeria also made it contingent for all local councils in Nigeria to be democratically governed in accordance with section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as altered. This newspaper in its August 13, 2024 edition reported that the federal and state government agreed on a three-month moratorium on the judgment of the Supreme Court. This is what Governor Fubara premised his willy-nilly conduct of October 5, 2024 Rivers State local government elections on. He claimed that if he did not conduct LG elections in the state before October 31, 2024, the Federal Government would seize the state allocation to LGAs.

Meanwhile, in the recently conducted Ward, LGA, and State PDP congresses held in the state, the Rivers State governor’s camp lost to his political godfather, Wike. Fubara therefore urged his supporters to move to Action Peoples Party to contest last Saturday’s election. At the end of the exercise, RSIEC chairman, Justice Adolphus Enebeli declared that APP won chairmanship in 22 of the 23 LGAs and 314 out of the 319 councillorship seats. Action Alliance won the Etche LGA chairmanship position. Ahead of the LG polls, there was a series of litigation and protests from the Wike’s camp to prevent the elections from being held. The newly elected council heads were inaugurated on Sunday, October 6, 2024.

The situation however took the turn for the worse when protests and arson rocked several of the council secretariats. As of last Monday, Ikwerre, Emourha, and Eleme council secretariats were torched by arsonists. A section of the Nigerian media also reported some deaths. This tragic situation is all about a power tussle on who controls the political structure in Rivers State. While president Bola Tinubu has urged calm and has asked the aggrieved party to go to court. If firm actions are not taken to curb the brewing violence in the state, it can sound the death knell of this Fourth Republic.

Recall that a similar operation ‘wetie’ happened during the post-election western region electoral crises in 1964 and 1965. This led to the first military takeover on January 15, 1966. President Tinubu should call his Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesome Wike to order to allow for peace in his home state. It is widely believed that his foot soldiers are behind the ongoing arson in the state given that they have been the ones protesting the conduct of the local government elections before, during, and after the polls. Rivers State produces a significant quantum of Nigeria’s oil and gas; to allow it to be engulfed in political crisis is like cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.

X: @jideojong