By LAWSON HEYFORD
There is rising tension and fear amongst the people and residents of Rivers State, particularly political office holders in the state, following a spate of violent threats by individuals and groups over the series of ultimatum dangling on the state governor, Sir Siminilayi Joseph Fubara.
This is coming on the heels of the one hour and thirty-six minutes judgment by the Supreme Court of Nigeria on the lingering political stalemate in Rivers, dating back to August 2023.
The Apex Court had last Friday, through a five member jurists, made some pronouncements which have caused uneasiness and unsettled pockets of political upheavals in the state.
Amongst some controversial decisions of the Supreme Court, is the order granting unhindered access to the Martyns Amaewhule led 27-members of the state legislature to resume sitting against two different cases on their defection at the lower courts.
Rivers State Governor, Sim Fubara
The suit for the legality or otherwise of the defection of Martyns Amaewhule and his 26 other lawmakers are already before the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, and was not a subject of litigation before the Apex Court.
Individuals and groups, including the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, have separately criticised the Apex Court rulings, describing it as a “Miscarriage of justice and a clear contradiction of established legal precedents.”
The Supreme Court also nullified the local government council election held on October 5, 2024, insisting that the electoral umpire, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, did not follow the necessary procedures in organising the polls.
In addition, the Apex Court stopped the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Accountant General of the Federation from releasing the monthly allocations due to Rivers State until after the conduct of a fresh election into the state’s 23 LGAs.
Based on the order of the Apex Court for Governor Fubara to represent the 2024 state’s appropriation bill to the Martyns Amaewhule’s legislators, the House of Assembly on Monday gave him a 48 hours ultimatum to comply.
But Rivers government, through its Secretary to the state government, Dr. Tammy Wenike Danagogo denied the receipt of any letter from the House of Assembly up until yesterday, Wednesday, the expiry date of the deadline.
While the controversy over the letter and its ultimatum rages, the state House of Assembly yesterday again issued a series of letters accompanied with a 48-hour ultimatum to the state chief executive and the Chairman of RSIEC, Justice Adulphus Enebeli.
In its latest letter dated March 5, 2025, addressed to the governor, the Legislature directed him to sack all his political appointees, including the 19 commissioners, chairmen, and members of institutions governing councils, boards and parastatals.
According to the legislators, these appointees, particularly the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Dagogo, SAN, were not screened and cleared by them in accordance with the constitutional requirements, accusing the governor of several constitutional breaches
The pro-Wike lawmakers also ordered the RSIEC chairman, Justice Adulphus Enebeli, to appear before them within 48 hours to explain details of the proposed state local government election scheduled for Saturday, August 9, 2025.
The Legislature warned the RSIEC chairman that it would invoke the necessary laws, including issuance of a warrant of arrest on him should he fail to honour their invitation.
Justice Enebeli had called a stakeholders meeting at their RSIEC office. along Aba Road, Port Harcourt, where he released the timetable and guidelines for the LGA elections in the state.
Since after last Friday’s Supreme Court judgment, there have been sounds of war drums from all parts of the state and beyond, especially with the 27 lawmakers displaying actions as though they were acting on an already prepared script, well crafted for them.
Both the Ijaw National Congress, INC, and the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, the umbrella bodies of all elders and youths of Ijaw Land, have separately warned that no harm should be done to their son, Fubara or his office.
Since the current democratic dispensation started in 1999, the upland area of the state had been at the helm of affairs in the state, boasting of four governors, including Dr. Peter Odili, Chief Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Sir Celestine Omehia, and Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike.
Sir Siminilayi Joseph Fubara, an Ijaw son from the Opobo extraction, is the only governor from the riverine part of the state now in Government House, Port Harcourt, 26 years after.
Viewed against this background, the INC president, Prof. Benjamin Okaba regretted that the Apex Court did not take into cognisance the sacrifices of the Ijaws to the peace, unity, and stability of the state, in its decisions.
Prof. Okaba warned of dire consequences that may follow the removal of Governor Fubara, saying, “Any move to impeach the Rivers State governor will destabilise the Niger Delta region and disrupt oil production.”
According to him, the obvious implications of allowing oil facilities to be disrupted would be too grave on the nation’s economy, and appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently intervene and call his FCT Minister to order.
In his words, which was also chorused by Dr. Alaye Theophilus, the president of Ijaw youths, “We cannot fold our hands and watch our first riverine governor in decades being removed from office by a few individuals and the mandate of Rivers people shattered.”
The IYC president cautioned those, “Wishing to use the Supreme Court judgment as a canon folder to impeach the governor should have a rethink,” and asked President Tinubu to choose between a peaceful Niger Delta and Wike and his co-travellers.
A socio-cultural group “We Stand With Sim” urged Amaewhule and his pro-Wike disciples not to misinterpret the Apex Court rulings as a “Death Sentence”, and appealed to them to be cautious in their dealings with the governor in the interest of peace and stability.
From all indications, the pro-Wike’s 27 legislators are bent on having their pounds off flesh from Governor Fubara whose trouble with his political godfather, Wike started in August 2023, just three months after his swearing-in on May 29, 2023.
Although Wike, who had ruled the state for eight years blamed their political differences on alleged destruction of his political structure, Fubara on his part said it was more about the control of the resources of the state.
The political brouhaha got to the climax when on October 30, 2023, Martyns Amaewhule led 26 of his colleagues to defect from their original Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC, following a foiled attempt to impeach Fubara.
To fuel their support base and cause anxiety amongst Governor Fubara’s followers, a kite was flown through online media that Prof. Ngozi Odu, the state deputy governor has already resigned from office, to avert being impeached.
But yesterday evening, the Omoku-born academia turned politician denied resigning from office, assuring that she was still loyal and faithfully committed to joining Fubara to provide Rivers people and residents with the elusive dividends of democracy.
The current scenario allows for rumours, stabbing and backstabbing, with virtually everyone becoming a suspect to one another. The days ahead are still pregnant, even with the governor’ s vow to implement the decisions of the Supreme Court, after perusing the certified true copy of the judgment.
Heyford is Managing Editor, Politics, of The Southern Examiner
