Tinubu’s Emergency Proclamation In Rivers State, By Kazeem Akintunde

Advertisement

By Kazeem Akintunde

Both chambers of the National Assembly on Thursday last week, gave express approval through voice vote to the proclamation of a state of emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The President had, earlier on Tuesday in an address to the nation, said that his administration could no longer watch and allow the state to degenerate into lawlessness. Citing section 305 of the Nigerian Constitution, which he said gave him the power to declare a state of emergency on any troubled spot in the country, Tinubu suspended the mandate given to Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu,  by 302, 614 residents of Rivers State for six months.

Most Nigerians are of the view that the President lacked the power to suspend an elected governor, his deputy, or members of the State House of Assembly. While Section 305 grants the President the mandate to declare a state of emergency in any part of Nigeria, it does not state that the President can suspend the Governor or the lawmakers. This is the crux of the matter. In Section 188 of the Constitution, only the state House of Assembly can remove a Governor through a well-defined legal process.

However, for the proclamation to become law, it must be approved by 2/3 of members in both chambers of the National Assembly. Again, some Nigerians believe that the Tinubu’s government may not be able to garner the required number in both chambers. They hinged their optimism on the fact that the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) does not command 2/3 majority in both chambers. There are 109 Senators in the Senate out of which APC has only 59. The President would need 73 senators to support the proclamation. In the House of Representatives, the ruling APC has about 170 members, but it must have the backing of 240 House of Representatives for the proclamation to take effect.

Indeed, Section 305 (6b) of the Nigerian constitution mandates that a state of emergency in any part of Nigeria proclaimed by the President must be supported by a “two-thirds majority of all the members of each House of the National Assembly.”

Advertisement

But Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, preferred voice votes. Akpabio and Abass simply changed the goal post for Tinubu to score an own goal. With that, the fate of Fubara was sealed. He, his deputy, and the 31 lawmakers in the Rivers State House of Assembly stand suspended for an initial period of six months.

Tinubu told Nigerians that he took the action to protect the economic interest of the nation. He may be right. The Trans-Niger Pipeline, operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), went up in flames Monday night. Few hours later, another explosion was reported at an oil facility in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area. While the two explosions on the nation’s oil facilities could be unrelated to the political turmoil in the state, Nigeria will reportedly lose over $35 million daily to the two incidents. This might also reverse the gains of employing ex-militants in the Niger Delta to protect the oil assets from attacks.

Based on security reports available to him, which significantly indicted the Governor as the instigator of the explosions at the oil facilities, Tinubu had to summon an emergency meeting with his security chiefs and the Inspector General of Police as well as head of the National Assembly. The security situation in Rivers was the only issue on their agenda, and it was agreed that a State of Emergency be declared in a bid to protect the Nation’s oil assets. Fubara has, however, denied instigating militant groups to blow up those facilities.

While the fate of Fubara, his deputy, and the lawmakers were sealed in Abuja, a new sheriff rode to town in Rivers State to take charge of the affairs of the state. Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, a retired chief of Naval Staff and an indigene of Cross River State was appointed the sole Administrator. I watched on television as the Head of Service of Rivers State, Permanent Secretaries and other senior government officials fell over themselves to welcome Ibas to the state. In his first official meeting with senior government officials, he had on his entourage, senior military officers in Rivers state and the Commissioner of Police with him.

During his meeting with the senior government officials before the media were politely told to leave, he said that security would be top of his priority as well as the protection of oil assets across the state. In Yoruba land, we have an adage that says when two brothers fight till death, an outsider would definitely inherit their property. That is what is presently playing out in Rivers state.

The war of attrition between godfather, Nyesom Wike, former Governor of Rivers State and the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and Fubara, his political god son, has finally gotten to a climax. Wike still wants the body and soul of Rivers in his pocket after eight years in the saddle as Governor. Fubara, on the other hand, wants to call the shots and be his own man. Wike told whoever cared to listen that Fubara was hell-bent on the destruction of his political structures. Fubara says it was more about the control of the resources of the state by one man.

The rift became noticeable few months after Fubara was sworn in. Eighty per cent of those elected and appointed to work with Fubara were nominated by Wike. More than 90 per cent of members of the House of Assembly were loyal to Wike and they were to serve as a check on Fubara if he dared not to do the bidding of the powerful Wike, Afterall, he single-handedly purchased the nomination forms for all the lawmakers to contest for office.

While in Abuja working as the FCT Minister, Wike also had his hands full with the politics of Rivers State.  Fubara was also his political son who decided to become a man of his own. The Rivers state House of Assembly complex became a casualty, as it was demolished, all in a bid to prevent the legislature from having ideas of impeaching Fubara. He also succeeded in getting four of the lawmakers to his camp, but 27 others remain resolute with Wike. After several court cases, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the 27 lawmakers, insisting that it was wrong for the Governor to superintend the state with four lawmakers. The Apex Court also directed Fubara to re-present the 2025 Rivers State Budget to the Martin Amaewhule-led legislature.

As expected, the turmoil degenerated after the ruling by the Supreme Court on February 28, which emboldened the lawmakers, who gave Fubara 48 hours to re-present the budget. Fubara shunned the lawmakers,  but when he was ready to re-present the budget, the lawmakers also shut their doors on him. The lawmakers went ahead to list the sins of Fubara as they began impeachment proceedings against him.

As if that was not bad enough, the Supreme Court also stopped the monthly allocations to Rivers state, which provoked instant tensions across the state. Now, we have been told that the seized allocation would be released to the Sole Administrator. Who will now supervise the activities of the one-man rule in Rivers State for the next six months? While Tinubu is saying that the Federal Executive Council would supervise Ibas, the National Assembly is planning on setting up a joint committee of the two Houses to oversee Ibas.

In the fight for the soul of Rivers State, the people of the state are the major casualty. Governance has been in limbo in the last 22 months as all the parties have spent more time in court than on the delivery of democratic dividends to the people.

This is not the first time Nigeria has witnessed such a contentious approach to emergency powers. The precedent was set in 2004, when President Olusegun Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in Plateau State and removed the Governor, the Deputy Governor, and House of Assembly members, installing an Administrator instead. This move was widely criticized as unconstitutional, yet it was not successfully challenged in court. The Supreme Court, when presented with an opportunity to rule on the matter in Plateau State v. Attorney General of the Federation, avoided making a definitive pronouncement, leaving the issue unresolved.

Similarly, President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states in 2013. This was due to the Boko Haram activities in those states. Unlike Obasanjo, Jonathan retained the elected state officials, leading some commentators to argue that his approach was a deviation from past precedents and not far-reaching enough. However, a proper reading of the Constitution supports Jonathan’s approach, as it preserved the integrity of state institutions while allowing for necessary federal intervention. His decision aligned with the cooperative nature of emergency powers as envisioned by the Constitution.

However, without Tinubu calling Wike and the 27 lawmakers to order, his action and inaction on the Rivers issue would remain tainted in the eyes of most Nigerians. In actual fact, his intervention in Rivers State is far more self-evidently about 2027 politics. Given how much the Rivers electoral figures tilted against him in 2023, he cannot risk losing that state again. Yes, the politics of partisanship that makes people question the actions of a leader they did not vote for will definitely be at play in the cynicism that will greet Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers state, but that will not exhaust the reason people will read meanings to his action.

So, after six months, what next? The President should be told in clear terms that he cannot heap all the blame on Fubara as he did in his address to the nation while declaring the state of emergency in Rivers without commensurate castigation of Wike. He needs to call Wike to order to allow Fubara to do his job of governing Rivers state.

Now, the Senate is also thinking of a political solution to the crisis in the state as it has promised to set up a committee of eminent Nigerians to find amicable solutions to the intractable problem between godfather Wike and his estranged godson- Fubara. Without the two principal individuals agreeing to work together in the interest of the state, the six months suspension of democratic governance in the state would be meaningless. Now is the time for the duo to put their egos aside and consider the larger interest of the people of Rivers state. As stated earlier, it is when two brothers fight to the finish that a stranger would inherit their property.

See you next week.