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The political disagreement between the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara and his estranged godfather and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has degenerated to a point that the police have unfortunately been dragged into the matter. Wike and his successor, Fubara, have been engaged in a political struggle over the control of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, structure in the state for some months now. ...READ THE FULL STORY FROM SOURCE ...READ THE FULL STORY FROM SOURCE
The problem between the two political bigwigs started a few months after Fubara assumed office as the Governor of Rivers State.
He fell out with Wike, who was alleged to have anointed him. The real cause of their disagreement has remained in the realm of public conjecture, as various reasons have been adduced by different persons.
While some said Wike wanted to take 100 percent charge of what happens in the state, others said he wanted a large chunk of the state allocation given to him every month as compensation for making Fubara governor of the state.
However, there is also another opinion that Fubara would not accept any of the conditions given to him by Wike because according to him, he was elected to serve the interest of the Rivers people and not that of Wike.
With Fubara’s alleged recalcitrant position, the battle line was drawn between him and Wike.
It started with an attempt to impeach the governor, leading to the defection of 27 Rivers House of Assembly lawmakers, led by the Speaker, Martins Amaewhule, from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The move was perceived by analysts as the first step to the grand plan to move an impeachment proceeding against Fubara.
But, Fubara would not just fold his arms and allow himself to be felled like a tree. He quickly moved into action and the remaining three lawmakers loyal to him elected a new Speaker, who immediately declared the seats of the 27 defected lawmakers vacant.
The Governor presented the 2024 budget to the three members of the House and thereafter, signed it into law after its passage by the lawmakers.
From that moment up till last Saturday, when the local government elections were held to elect the council chairmen and councilors, it has been from one problem to the other for the governor.
Before last Saturday’s election, the role of the police in the brouhaha had become suspicious in the eyes of many, with some accusing the police of taking sides against the Governor.
This was demonstrated when the Governor dissolved the former council executives at the expiration of their tenure and appointed caretaker committees in their place.
The defected 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike whose seats had been declared vacant extended the tenure of the former council chairmen and councilors by six months.
Based on the extension, the former chairmen and councilors did not want to vacate their offices. But when the Governor constituted caretaker committees to replace them, all hell was let loose and the police were deployed to seal all the local government secretariats in the state.
The 27 local government headquarters of the state remained under lock and key, with heavily armed policemen guarding them until Monday, October 7, a day after the newly elected chairmen and councilors were sworn into office by the Governor.
The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun had issued a statement on Monday morning, ordering the Rivers State Commissioner of Police to instruct his men to unseal and vacate all the 27 local government secretariats with immediate effect.
However, before then, the police had come out openly to say that they would not provide security during the council elections held on Saturday, October 5.
The governor was alleged to have responded by telling the police that whether they provided security or not, the election would hold.
That was after a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, not to provide the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, with the voters’ register for the purpose of the local council election.
In the same vein, a Rivers State High Court had also ordered INEC to provide RSIEC with the voters’ register so that the council election could be held.
Following the two conflicting orders by two courts of coordinate jurisdictions, the belief in some quarters was that the Governor would take that of Rivers State since the matter is domiciled in the state and should not have been taken to Abuja in the first instance.
The Governor equally argued that the Abuja high court did not say that the election should not hold but only said that INEC should not provide RSIEC with the voters’ register, a decision Fubara said would not stop the election.
Reacting to the development, the Nigerian Bar Association said the police cannot shirk their responsibility to provide security in Rivers State.
The NBA’s reaction followed the statement by the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Grace Iringe-Koko that the Rivers State Police would not provide security during the local government elections scheduled for Saturday, October 5, 2024.
The statement signed by the NBA president, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, also condemned an alleged attempt by the police to cart away electoral materials in the dead of the night at the head office of RSIEC on Friday, October 4.
“We agree with the statement issued by the Chairmen of NBA branches as we find it deeply troubling that the Police would brazenly issue a statement that they would shirk their constitutional responsibility of providing security in Rivers State in purported compliance with an order of court.
“Even if a court has directed the Police not to work with the Electoral Commission on Rivers State, nothing says the Police should not provide security for peace and order of Rivers State.
“The responsibility of the police to ensure peace and security is constitutional and cannot be restrained by any court.
“The Police should at all times provide security for the good people of Nigeria and should in fact be worried that any court order purports to prevent them from discharging this responsibility.
“The duty to secure the lives and property of the people is one that should never be restrained by the court. The Police as much as all Nigerians should be concerned that such a statement should be issued by the Police confirming they would abdicate their duty.
“The Police must ensure they discharge their duties at all times and urgently take steps to set aside any judgement that seeks to prevent the Police from discharging their constitutional responsibilities. To do otherwise may enthrone a reign of terror or breakdown of law and order. The people of Rivers must never be left unprotected, no matter what.
“Any act or position that leaves the people and their activities unprotected is utterly unacceptable and strongly condemned by the Nigerian Bar Association.
“The assertion by the Rivers State Police, through the PPRO, that the Police will not provide security for the elections, if accurate, is an unfortunate abdication of responsibility and egregious violation of constitutional duties.
“The refusal to provide security is not only unconstitutional but also illegal, immoral and a dangerous signal that invites lawlessness and undermines democracy. It is, in every sense, a direct attack on the democratic rights of the people of Rivers State and, by extension, Nigeria as a whole. In fact, it threatens our democracy,” the NBA stated.
Also condemning the police action, Dr Pogu Bitrus of the Middle Belt Forum, MBF, described the role of the police in Rivers council election as a very unfortunate thing.
He said the development gives credence to the age-long call for the need to decentralise the police.
“By decentralizing, we are saying that before the military incursion, we had what we called the Local Authority Police and we also had the Nigeria police.
“The Local Authority Police can now be equated with what we are advocating as state police.
“Many people are saying that everything that we had before was bad and the new ways are good. So, if the new ways are good, why are we not in the Promised Land?
“When we had local authority police and the Nigeria police, things were working. All this use of the federal police serving some personal interests should stop.
“We know that the states are not doing a good job either because the state independent electoral commission is a tool in the hands governors use.
“In fact, it is a waste of time if you are going to contest anything that the governor said because they will write whatever they want in their favour.
“In some places, they don’t even do any election; before the election, the results are already written.
“So, there is a conflict between the national and the states. It appears the Nigeria police are used to serve federal interest as opposed to state interest and that is not supposed to be. It is supposed to be Nigeria police for everybody, but that is not the case here.
“The Inspector General of Police, IGP, doesn’t listen to the state governors; he listens to instructions from the national body and not from the state.
“So, there is a dichotomy. So, if we say we are copying the US system, why do we have this kind of system? “In America, even the local government has its own police, the County Police and each one has its own jurisdiction.
“The problem is not even with this particular IGP or any other IGP for that matter, it is with the system. We have weak institutions, so whoever is in power can use them for his personal purpose, not for the purpose of the country.
“So, if the IGP acted against the Rivers people to satisfy some interests somewhere, the problem started from the judiciary.
“A High Court in Rivers passed a judgment, another High Court in Abuja within the same jurisdiction passed another different judgment on the same matter.
“And then you have this confusion and the IGP now decided to implement the Abuja judgment to please his masters. Why should we have that kind of situation in the judiciary in the first place?
“So, our institutions are weak, whether it is the judiciary or the police. They are weak and subject to manipulations by leaders.
“Therefore, because they are weak, it is not the constitution that guides them but the people in power.
“So, what happened in Rivers is an unfortunate development but we have had this kind of incident happening over and over again.
“We have to rejig our institutions so that they can work and serve the interest of Nigerians and base everything they do on what the constitution says and not what an individual wants.
“That is the only solution to our problem. Unless we get to that level, we will continue to have problems whether it is in Rivers or some other places.
“And some of us are saying that it is very difficult to amend the constitution we have. It is very cumbersome, we created it ourselves, it came in through the military fiat, so we should go back to the 1963 constitution which was a people’s democratic constitution and follow the processes laid down for constitutional amendment.
“Let’s look at what we have now from the 2014 confab report which attempted to address Nigeria’s problems.
“Let’s marry the two and come out with something which can be adopted through referendum and we can have a people’s constitution which can address many of these problems,” he said.
Also, a lawyer and politician, Maxi Okwu said what happened in Rivers council election with regard to the role of the police was a travesty of democracy.
“What is the business of the IGP ? That will show you the level of impunity in this country.
“Obviously, there is another angle to it. Somebody is somewhere paying the piper to play the tune; that is the fact.
“The police are a federal agency and there is a federal interest through a particular individual, so what is happening is brigandage.
“No matter what you may say about Fubara and his tactics, some people are trying to rubbish him or twist his arms.
“The problems in Rivers State can be curtailed by the President calling Wike to order. But he will not do that because what Wike is doing is in favour of the APC and the President.
“The President should just call Wile to order. You cannot be a minister from the PDP and APC and try to run Rivers State indirectly; it is not done and that is the tragedy of what is happening. We are watching them,” he said
In his contribution, Alhaji Yusuf Shehu, a former Katsina State House of Assembly member described what is happening in Rivers as a matter between the state and the federal government.
He noted that the police didn’t act according to the constitution of the land.
He said: “There is no reason an individual should be directing the police on how to conduct their functions.
“The governor is the chief security officer of his state; therefore, the police should listen and take instructions from him as long as such instructions are not against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and not to receive instructions from Abuja to withdraw the police personnel that were securing the local council secretariats.
“And you can see the outcome of that singular action, about six local government secretariats were set ablaze by hoodlums.
“It is because of the police withdrawal. Remember that the governor had earlier said such withdrawal would give room for hoodlums to take over and that was what happened exactly. “So, the police didn’t act professionally in the Rivers State local government election; they were biased and it is not healthy for our democracy.”...For More READ THE FULL STORY ▶▶
