Here is the entire text of the paper presented by Barr. AbdulRahman Babatunde Okunade on the Rivers State political crisis : Introduction Nigeria is a country where events happen in quick succession thus requiring a brain with large capacity storage to catch up with the fast pace of such disturbing occurrences. By the middle of a month, an otherwise unnerving event of the beginning of the month would have paled into insignificance as compared to succeeding ones. Such is the circle of scandal in Nigeria so much that Nigerians are no longer surprised at anything. However, there is a recent political unrest that almost shook the nation to its foundation, perhaps because of the involvement of the country’s first family. It is the crisis rocking the Rivers State of Nigeria, for which national actors have already been stratified into pro and anti-principal actors of the festering crisis. The Rivers crisis which had been brewing for some time now came to a climax on the 9th day of July, 2013 when the hallowed chambers of the State’s House of Assembly was turned to a theatre of free for all, the details and implication of which shall be discussed later in this paper. Many analysts and social commentators have tried to trace the Rivers crisis to a number of sources some of which include the following: 1. Waterfront Demolition In Port Harcourt was a sprawling slum popularly called Waterfront. Waterfront consisted of unapproved settlements with their haphazard and indiscriminate siting of dwelling houses, the totality of which bore a signature of condoned disorderliness. More worrisome about Waterfront was its notoriety for harbouring the deadly social miscreants. It was known to be a safe haven for prime fugitives. Rivers State being a major source of the country’s wealth and Port Harcourt being a prime city, the universally attendant social vices that naturally go with such status are also present in Rivers State, thus making her one of the country’s flash points. Therefore, maintaining and keeping a breeding ground like Waterfront would be tantamount to officially permitting vices. And to that effect, Governor Rotimi Amaechi moved to demolish the structures as part of the state government’s decision to acquire the spots for overriding public use as permitted under the Land Use Act. But the governor’s decision to so demolish was greeted with resistance from the Waterfront inhabitants, mostly of Okrika tribe. To cap it all was a presidential resistance coming from Mrs Patience Jonathan who openly reprimanded the governor in the full glare of the public. Mrs Jonathan is also from Okrika. Undaunted and in spite of the first family’s opposition to the mission, Governor Amaechi paid about N20billion compensation and went ahead to demolish the controversial Waterfront, thus leaving the first family highly deflated. This singular event seemed to have marked the beginning of the end of an otherwise cordial relationship, the spiral effect of which has led to the present crisis. 2. Lamido- Amaechi’s rumoured presidential ambition Alhaji Sule Lamido, the incumbent governor of Jigawa State has serially been rumoured as nursing an ambition to have a shot at the number one seat in the country. As if to further convince any doubting Nigerian, Lamido’s posters have continuously flooded major cities of the country, prominent among them, Abuja. Nigerians perhaps would not have given the posters much attention, but for the inclusion of the ever controversial Amaechi’s photograph in the posters as the proposed running mate to Lamido. Meanwhile, the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan has been on the front burner of national discourse for some time,with opinion leaders from the South South region of the country, the president’s zone,maintaining that ruling the country for a 2nd term through Mr Jonathan is nonnegotiable. It is thus understandable how disappointed and enraged the president’s supporters felt seeing the governor of a critical south-south state playing the spoiler. The effect of this on the existing mutual distrust and animosity between the governor’s and the president’s camps is predictable, and this has further worsened the Jonathan-Amaechi’s deteriorating relationship. Even though Mr Amaechi has feebly denied the rumoured ambition, his continuous romance with Alhaji Lamido is not helping the ailing relationship. 3. Wike-Amaechi Imbroglio Mr Nyesom Wike, the current Minister of State for Education and Governor Rotimi Amaechi used to belong to Dr Peter Odili’s political camp named ‘Restoration Team’, the platform that won the 1999 gubernatorial election in Rivers State for Odili. From the same platform, Amaechi was elected into the State’s House of Assembly while Wike was elected the Executive Chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Government, the richest of the 23 Local Governments in Rivers State which is even said to be among the top five in Nigeria in terms of Internally Generated Revenue. While Amaechi was further elected the Speaker of the Assembly and later the Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Speakers, Wike became the National President of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) and further went ahead to become a member of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Local Governments Forum (CLGF). The two friends were considered not only the closest children of the Odili political family but also the most influential. After two terms as Rivers State’s Speaker, Mr Amaechi contested the PDP primaries for the 2007 governorship elections and won, but he was later denied the party’s ticket under very controversial circumstances. Being a veteran agitator since his student days as the president of the National Union of Rivers State Students, Amaechi protested the exclusion at the law court up to the highest court in the land, where he was eventually declared the State’s governor even without standing the elections! It is instructive to note that while the struggle lasted, Amaechi made more enemies than friends, notably among them were his formers political associates and benefactors. But one person stood out and stood with him throughout. That person was Nyesom Wike, whose support in terms of finance and grassroots influence gave Amaechi the needed morale booster throughout the struggle. Therefore, as soon as he was sworn in as the Governor, Amaechi appointed Wike as his Chief of Staff, a position which the latter occupied until the end of the governor’s tenure in 2011. Having courted more enemies and with a brewing feud with the First Lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan, Amaechi’s re-election as governor was seriously threatened. At that critical juncture, he appointed Mr Wike as the Director-General of his re-election campaign organization, and the result was overwhelming. Political watchers opine that it was Wike’s political dexterity and particularly his control of and experience in grassroots politics of Rivers State that saved the PDP from losing the State to either the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) or the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in 2011. After the elections, Wike was nominated by the Governor as a ministerial candidate from Rivers State, thus elevating him to the national level. What then caused their fight? While other facts may be responsible for the current crisis engulfing Rivers State, it is not unsafe to say the greatest cause of it all lies in the bitter rift between the two ex-friends, i.e. Rotimi Amaechi and Nyesom Wike. With his perfect understanding of Rivers politics coupled with his political achievements so far, it would require a little effort to install Wike as the next governor of the state after Amaechi’s second term in 2015. But this appears not feasible in view of the political arrangement in the state, just as it obtains everywhere in the country. Wike not only comes from the same Senatorial District with Amaechi, he is also of the same tribe with the governor, i.e. Ikwerre! And this being the reality, Wike became interested in a Plan B, i.e. the Senate, which interestingly is also the governor’s Plan B in the event the Vice Presidential ambition does not sail through. With this clash of ambition then began the mutual suspicion which has dramatically developed into open hostility that has extended to a bitter fight for the control of party structures in the state. At the March 17, 2012 PDP congress in Rivers State, Mr Godspower Ake, sponsored by Amaechi emerged the party chairman but the election was greeted with legal tussles. Supported for the same position by Wike is also Mr Felix Obuah, a former local government chairman at the same time Wike presided at Obio-Akpor Local Government. While the Rivers State High Court had earlier confirmed Ake as the authentic chairman of the party, an Abuja High Court also recently pronounced Obuah the authentic chairman, therefore factionalising the party in the state along pro- Amaechi and pro-Wike lines. 4. Suspension of the Chairman and Councillors of Obio-Akpor Local Government In the heat of the passion, Mr Timothy Nsirim, the Chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Government, was accused of financial impropriety, thus warranting his investigation by the State’s House of Assembly. In order to enable an uninfluenced audit of the council’s account and sundry other investigations, the Chairman, his deputy and the entire 17 Councillors were suspended by the House of Assembly on the 22nd of April, 2013, in the place of which the governor inaugurated a 7-man Caretaker Committee the next day. While it is instructive to point out that the affected Local Government is Mr Wike’s stronghold, it is not surprising that the suspension was vociferously protested as the Assembly’s action was seen as a further but indirect way of getting at Mr Wike with a view to weakening his support base. The uproar generated by the incident further worsened the frosty relationship between Mr Wike and his Abuja benefactors on the one hand and Governor Amaechiand his supporters on the other hand. All entreaties and veiled threats to Mr Amaechito reverse the suspension fell on deaf ears as the governor maintained that he could not violate the principle of separation of powers because, the Council was not suspended by him but the State’s Assembly in the course of its oversight duties. Thecat and mouse relationship therefore continued. 5. Nigerian Governors’ Forum Nigerian Governors’ Forum is one of the social contradictions of the Nigerian democracy. It is a non-statutory club of policy makers who also style themselves as a pressure group. Before May 24, 2013, Mr Amaechi was the undisputed chairman of the Forum which has as members the 36 Executive Governors of the Nigerian 36 states. Before him were four predecessors, namely Governor Abdullahi Adamu of Nasarawa State (1999 to 2004), Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom (2004 to 2006), Edo State’s Lucky Igbinedion (2006 to 2007), and Bukola Saraki of Kwara State (2007 to 2011). As a continuation of the Presidency-Amaechi crisis, all efforts were deployed by the presidency to either ease the Forum’s control out of Amaechi’s hand or whittle down his influence and control of the Forum. To that extent, a group named the PDP Governors’ Forum suddenly emerged under the leadership of an Aso Rock ally, i.e. Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom. Not minding the fact that Akpabio and Amaechi had just come out of a bitter legal tussle over certain oil wells, the presidency did not hide its sponsorship and preference for Akpabio’s PDP Governors’ Forum. With the PDP having almost two-third of the membership of the NGF, it was the Aso Rock’s calculation that creation of the PDP Governors’ Forum would have sounded thedeath knell for Amaechi’s re-election as the NGF chairman. Unknown to the Presidency and its allies in the NGF, there were more pro-Amaechi elements among the PDP Governors than imagined. Therefore, at the Forum’s election of May 24, the Presidency’s anointed candidate, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau was roundly trounced by Amaechi who polled 19 votes out of the 35 votes cast, leaving Mr Jang to manage with the remaining 16 votes as a clear loser. Being an ego tussle however, Mr President and his men in their desperation chose torecognize the clear loser as the winner and opted for persecution of the real winner,as Amaechi was suspended from the PDP three days after the election. The NGF saga therefore marked the beginning of a renewed hostility between the gladiators, with each looking for every opportunity to launch revenge. The Ultimate Crisis: Attempt at Impeaching Amaechi as Governor The next show of superiority by the Presidency was a plot to impeach Governor Amaechi willy nilly. Standing in the way of getting this done however, was the governor’s popularity with more than two-third of the Assembly members, herein called the G-27. But since the mission must be accomplished at any cost, the anti- Amaechi forces dug into the tactics of the Obasanjo-era. Then came the 9th day of July, 2013 when the 5 pro-Wike legislators, herein called the G-5 seized the House, pronounced some unnamed 15 members suspended and the Speaker, Hon. Otelemaba Dan Amachree impeached. Hon. Evans Bipi representing Ogu/Bolo State Constituency was purportedly elected the new speaker. But before the laughable impeachment, the G-5 had earlier in the day descended on the G-27 with the assistance of hired thugs. It was in the course of the melee that the Governor stormed the House with his entourage in what analysts have described as an unnecessary rescue mission. The governor’s arrival suddenly emboldened the otherwise subdued G-27 particularly Hon. Chidi Llyod who with the assistance of the governor’s Aide-De-Camp (ADC), Acting ASPDebeware Semeikumo and the Chief Security Officer (CSO), Mr Tony Iwelu, was caught on video tape as beating the still present members of the G-5. Very unfortunate among the G-5 was Hon. Michael Chinda who was violently beaten with an improvised mace procured by the G-5 for its illegal proceeding. Also caught on tape behaving in manners that are clearly inconsistent with the status of a lawmaker was Hon. Evans Bipi. He was not only seen attempting to disarm a policeman, he was also seen sweeping a man off the ground with a punch. The fracas was serially aired by a Lagosbased private television station. After the violent disturbance subsided however, the House was able to reconvene under the speakership of the purportedly impeached Hon. Amachree to approve the supplementary budget request sent to the Assembly by Governor Amaechi. The Police’s Role Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu is the Rivers State Commissioner of Police whose role in the crisis rocking the state has been one tilting in favour of a side to the tussle. Instances of the Commissioner of Police’s undisguised bias are legion, some of which are touched here: i. Upon inauguration of the Caretaker Committee for Obio-Akpor Local Government on April 23, 2013 the Commissioner of Police deployed his men to occupy the Local Government secretariat on May 3 during which they barred the Local Government workers from entering the premises. The Caretaker Committee thus proceeded to court and obtained an order of court directing the police to vacate the premises, particularly in order to enable the workers’ salaries for the months of April and May be paid. But contrary to his constitutional role as a law enforcer, the Commissioner of Police flagrantly and arrogantly disobeyed the court order. ii. While Armoured Personnel Carriers were stationed across the city of Port Harcourt in the wake of the crisis ostensibly to arrest any act of disturbance, it is shameful that elected governors of Nigerian states who visited the troubled state were booed and pelted with stones by a group of protesters believed to be pro-Wike, but no single arrest was made by the Police in spite of the heavy security presence in town. It has been observed that if state governors are not safe to freely identify with Governor Amaechi on the street of PortHarcourt, it is predictable what would befall ordinary citizens who dare to openly exhibit their support for the governor. iii. And as if to corroborate the above, while the Police permitted ex-Niger Delta militants to freely demonstrate against the Governor, the same Police denied civil society groups opportunity to demonstrate against the disturbance, as they were menacingly chased around Port Harcourt by the police. iv. While the Speaker’s security aides were withdrawn by the Police Commissioner before the July 9 attempted impeachment, he provided Evans Bipi with full police protection to prosecute the July 9 havoc. v. While Hon. Chidi Llyod was declared wanted and now standing trial for the role he played in the July 9 fracas, Hon. Evans Bipi remains untouched until date. And none of the thugs that co-invaded the House has been arrested. National Assembly’s Intervention At the height of the unrest, the Senate dispatched its Committee on States and Local Governments Administration led by Senator Kabiru Gaya of ANPP, representing Kano South Senatorial District to visit Rivers and investigate the crisis, whereupon the Senate found it compelling for the National Assembly to invoke the provision of Section 11(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 which provides that: At any time when any House of Assembly of a State is unable to perform its functions by reason of the situation prevailing in that State, the National Assembly may invoke such laws for the peace, order and good government of that State with respect to matters on which a House of Assembly may make laws as may appear to the National Assembly to be necessary or expedient until such time as the House of Assembly is able to resume its functions; and any such laws enacted by the National Assembly pursuant to this section shall have effect as if they were laws enacted by the House of Assembly of the State... Because the proviso to the above-quoted Section 11(5) is to the effect that ‘‘...nothing in this section shall be construed as conferring on the National Assembly power to remove the Governor or the Deputy Governor of the State from office’’, many analysts have hailed the National Assembly’s intervention because according to them, the speaker’s illegal impeachment was a preparation towards an ultimate albeit illegal impeachment of the governor by the G-5 in an Assembly of 32 members. It is therefore reasoned that only such an intervention can foreclose the planned illegal impeachment which is generally believed to be sponsored by the Presidency. However, it is the argument of the critics of the National Assembly’s intervention that the ingredients that are required to invoke Section 11(4) of the Constitution were absent at the time of the take-over. It is argued that after the fracas the House was still able to sit and approve the supplementary budget request sent to the House by the Governor, and that such take-over by the National Assembly is a contravention ofthe provision of subsection (5) of the same Section 11 of the Constitution which provides that: For the purposes of subsection (4) of this section, a House of Assembly shall not be deemed to be unable to perform its functions so long as the House of Assembly can hold a meeting and transact business. State Governor-Commissioner of Police Relationship on Security: What says the law? The Rivers State Commissioner of Police’s conduct has once again thrown up the thorny topic of ‘state police’. Even though an elaborate discussion of the topic is beyond the scope of this paper, it is necessary to state the legal position as it is, on the respective status of a state governor and the state’s Commissioner of Police vis-avis the security of the state. This becomes necessary in the light of the generally held misconception that a Commissioner of Police for a State in Nigeria is not answerable to the State Governor. Democracy as a system of government is made up of three arms, namely the Judiciary, the Legislature and the Executive. While it is not debatable that Police as a vital institution of government is part of the Executive, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 is unequivocal in its provision at Section 176 (2) thereof that “The Governor of a State shall be the Chief Executive of that State”. This therefore means that a police commissioner whose purpose is to maintain law and order for a particular state is subordinate to the Chief Executive of that State who is also the Chief Security Officer for the State. And clearly with a view to emphasising the governor’s superiority to the Commissionerof Police for the State regarding the issue of security for that state, it is the specific provision of the 1999 Constitution at Section 215(4) that: Subject to the provisions of this section, the Governor of a State or such commissioner of the Government of the state as he may authorize in that behalf, may give to the Commissioner of Police of that State such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order within the State as he may consider necessary, and the Commissioner of Police shall comply with those directions or cause them to be complied with. And as if to lay all doubts to rest over this issue, the highest court in the land finally answered the nagging question in the case of A.G. Anambra State vs. A.G. Federation (2005) 9 NWLR (Part 931) 572 at 616, paragraphs F-G, when the court interpreted the provision of Section 215(4), now Section 216 (1) in relation to a similar constitutional issue that arose in Anambra State and held that: By virtue of section 215 (1)[sic] of the 1999 Constitution, the Governor of Anambra State has power to issue lawful direction to the Commissioner of Police, Anambra State, in connection with securing public safety and order in the State. What other explanation is required to convince all doubting Thomases that a Police Commissioner in charge of a State is answerable not only to the Inspector General of Police but also to the Governor of the State of his operation? Afterall, direction or directive flows only from a superior to a subordinate. Furthermore, even though the need to seek and obtain any permit before proceeding on a public gathering or peaceful demonstration is no longer necessary in Nigeria by virtue of the landmark pronouncement by the apex court in the case of All Nigeria Peoples Party vs. Inspector-General of Police (2008) 12 WRN 65, it is however pertinent to know that the Public Order Act, Cap 382 LFN 1990 is replete with provisions that justify the inferiority and answerability of a police commissioner to a state governor. Subsections (1), (2), (3), (4), (5) and (6) of Section 1 to the Public Order Act are very apt in this regard. Findings/Observations Factionalising the NGF: This seems to be a style favoured by President Goodluck Jonathan as it is on record that just as Governor Akpabio is currently doing, Governor Suswam was used by the presidency on October 30, 2010 to polarise the NGF when he announced the then Governor of Ogun State who also doubled as the Southwest co-ordinator of the Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Campaign for 2011, as the new Chairman of the Forum without any meeting of the Forum to so agree/elect. The gimmick was to destabilise the then Chairman of the Forum, Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State who had just signified his interest in contesting the then forthcoming presidential election, which decision did not go down well with the Presidency. Executive Presidents and home Governors tussle: Since the return of democracy in 1999, it is becoming a trend for Nigerian presidents to be locked in a fierce battle of relevance with their home state’s governors or that of a neighbouring state. Save for late Umaru Yar’adua whose short stay in power did not afford Nigerians the opportunity of knowing what brand of ego politics he tended to play, the Obasanjo era saw him deploy all powers and tactics at his disposal towards paralysing Lagos State just because he did not see eye to eye with the then governor, Senator Bola Tinubu. Obasanjo was to later move to a neighbouring state and coincidentally his home state, Ogun, where he almost ran the governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel out of town. The governor was however run out of PDP eventually. Adopting the same style, President Goodluck first went to Bayelsa, his home state and chased Governor Timipre Sylva out of office. Done with Sylva, who is most likely on his way to prison now, the seemingly gentle president moved to a neighbouring state, and efforts to drown the governor in the Rivers of politics are still very much on course. Wike’s possible gain: It is beyond doubt that the Presidency does not consider Wike a friend but a comrade of necessity. The Presidency’s disagreement with Amaechi predated Wike’s ministerial status. As a matter of fact, he got into the federal cabinet as Amaechi’s friend and nominee. The Presidency knew that when Amaechi and Wike were together, Amaechi was electorally invincible. Therefore, the moment a crack appeared in the erstwhile rosy relationship, the Presidency penetrated and pushed the gap further apart by fortifying Wike in the name of ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’. It thus stands to reason that going by Obasanjo’s vindictive style which Jonathan seems to have imbibed, Amaechi’s downfall may not translate into Wike’s standing. A repeat of subversion: It is interesting to note that the Rivers scenario with the connivance of the Police is a replay of a similarly embarrassing occurrence in Anambra State exactly ten years ago. Acting upon some directive from above, Late Raphael Ige, an Assistant Inspector General of Police led a team of policemen on July 10, 2003 to abduct a sitting governor, Dr Chris Ngige for the benefit of one Chris Uba, an ally of the then President. While the said AIG of Police was eventually dumped and forgotten as he later died unsung, it is baffling that ten years after, another superior police officer could be willing to serve as a tool for a similar act of treason. Recommendations i. There is no denying the fact that Amaechi-era as governor of Rivers is a complete study in developmental projects, a fact his sworn enemies do not contest. Wike too is reputed to be an excellently creative administrator. That being the case, and with the duo’s abundant experience in the governance of Rivers State, it can only do a world of good to the beleaguered state if the gentlemen can sheathe their swords and close ranks to move the state further forward. ii. It is nothing but a contradiction of a civilian government such as we pretend to practise in Nigeria for a governor to be titled as being the Chief Security Officer of his state but without having a constitutionally sanctioned apparatus or outfit to quell a mere riot! Even the governor’s personal security is at the mercy of a purportedly superior government. Although, ‘state police’ as a concept is out of the focus of this discourse, it is however relevant to declare here that the desirability of a state police in Nigeria is becoming inevitable by the day. iii. As a deterrent to anyone with a tendency to manifest the pre-social contract instinct, it is of utmost importance that all legal infractions be duly punished without fear or favour. To that extent, while the prosecution but not persecution of Mr Chidi Llyod should be encouraged without any sentiment, Mr Evans Bipi’s immediate arrest and prosecution for provoking the July 9 disturbance is hereby recommended.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 18:02:24 +0000
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