The looming anarchy in Rivers State

By Chris Eze, Port Harcourt

Gradually, the political crisis in Rivers State is heading to the end at which the agent provocateurs behind the crisis are aiming at.

The mission from the beginning from what has been playing out is to unseat Governor Siminalayi Fubara by any means possible and ipso facto, create an expansive political empire for the immediate past governor, Nyesom Wike who also doubles as the FCT minister.

In the ‘Operation unseat Fubara’ which came to light since October 2023, the FCT minister who is leading the operation has many followers and adherents who are believed to be dependent on the minister to continue to oxygenate their political life and keep their pockets constantly wet!

This explains the desperation and lawless acts that have attended their modus operandi in trying to bring their plot to fruition.

That Governor Fubara has survived since Wike launched the ‘Fubara Must Go campaign’ must have been to the chagrin of the minister and his band of followers.

Some analysts say it was the frustration arising from failure to have removed Fubara that forced the factional chairman of APC in the state and Wike’s ally, Mr. Tony Okocha to call for a state of emergency to be declared in the state so that Gov. Fubara would lose grip of power.

The Governor who has been in front of the battle line taking all the bullets appears to have been toughened by the fusillade of attacks he has been facing and in equanimity has repeatedly maintained that the worst is over as far as the crisis he is facing is concerned.

However, events in the state in the past few days do not seem to align with the governor’s belief or confidence that the worst is over as the Wike foot soldiers appear to be waxing stronger in their quest to encumber peace in the state and throw the Treasure base of the nation into avoidable anarchy.

 A pointer to the looming anarchy was the invasion last week of the venue of a health program organized by the Obio/Akpor Local Government Council in collaboration with the state ministry of health by the ousted former speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr. Martins Amaewhule with thugs which disrupted the program and left many women attendees with various degrees of injury, including a little baby that was tear-gased by the rampaging thugs and policemen brought by Amaewhule.

It was gathered that police reinforcement from the state police headquarters quelled what would have snowballed into a major clash between pro-Wike men and pro-Fubara youths who reportedly stood up to the antics of Amaewhule and rose to defend the state government.

The Amaewhule led former lawmakers had in one of their ‘sittings’ at the Assembly quarters faulted the continued stay in office by the local government Caretaker Committee Chairmen after the judgment of the Supreme Court declaring Caretaker Committees in local government  illegal nationwide.

They also directed the police to arrest any Caretaker Chairman seen parading as one, labeling them as imposters.

It was apparently against this background that Amaewhule mobilized his security aides and thugs to invade the venue of the program being organized by the Chijioke Ihunwo led CTC of Obio/Akpor in partnership with the state ministry of health.

The question on the lips of observers is when did the Supreme Court appoint Amaewhule as the enforcer of its pronouncements such that he took laws into his hands to forcefully invade the venue of a government program to cause chaos?

Infuriated by the action of Amaewhule and the police, Chijioke Ihunwo, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Obi/Akpor local government condemned the development and appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to cease the misuse of security agencies in Rivers State.

“The Inspector General of Police should stop using security agencies in Rivers State to attack the government and those supporting the governor,” Ihunwo stated adding, “The use of force against peaceful and productive initiatives is unacceptable. It is critical that security agencies respect their mandate to protect and serve the public rather than being tools of intimidation and disruption.”

The CTC Chairman made it clear that if such a thing happens again, the pro-Fubara team would return ‘fire for fire’, saying that Amaewhule and his faction do not have the monopoly of violence.

At another gathering of pro-Wike men, immediate past local government chairmen led by former chairman of Emohua, Dr Chidi Llyod were also throwing faggots into the blazing fire.

At a press conference in Port Harcourt, they threatened to forcefully enter the local government secretariats to run the councils if the Caretaker Committees appointed by Governor Fubara continue to hold sway even after the Supreme Court had outlawed the existence of caretaker committees in local government administration nationwide.

Lloyd who spoke on behalf of the former chairmen declared that they are not “cowards”, criticizing the police for perceived inaction, despite a written request from the ‘State House of Assembly’ to stop the activities of CTC chairmen.

Allwell Ihunda, former Chairman of Port Harcourt City Local Government who also spoke at the occasion denounced Governor Fubara’s alleged defiance of Supreme Court rulings as a severe breach of the Constitution.

Ihunda accused the state government of perpetuating illegality by allowing the caretaker committees to continue operating.

He expressed concern that these actions could lead to further instability in Rivers State.

Alarmed by the alleged complicity of police in perpetuating crisis in the state, the state government strongly criticized the force for their alleged lopsided service in protecting lives and property in the state.

Reacting to the clash between supporters of Martins Amaewhule, the factional speaker of the state House of Assembly, and those of Governor Siminalayi Fubara at a health center, State Commissioner for Information, Joseph Johnson, expressed outrage over the police’s actions, stating that it was unacceptable for security personnel to endanger citizens’ lives instead of protecting them.

He alleged that police officers went to a health facility in Eliozu, Obio/Akpor local government area, and fired teargas canisters, causing panic.

Johnson highlighted several instances of alleged police bias, including the lockdown of 23 local government councils, failure to investigate the detonation of dynamite near the Presidential Hotel, and neglecting to arrest those who threatened the governor’s life. He accused the police of being against the Rivers State government and siding with Amaewhule’s group.

The commissioner emphasized that the police’s actions demonstrated a clear bias, particularly in their failure to arrest anyone involved in the health center incident, which put the lives of patients, including pregnant women and babies, at risk.

Worried by all the shenanigans going on in the state, a political analyst who prefers to remain anonymous said,  “The growing impatience and frustration on the part of the pro-Wike apostles who had thought that by now the removal of Gov. Fubara would have been a finished project is fuelling the agitation of these deluded lots and pushing them into asinine considerations and conclusions”

The source continued, “The Supreme Court verdict on local governments affects all the 774 local government areas in Nigeria and many of the affected states are already in the process of conducting local government election. Why should Rivers be different with all the noise about the CTC chairmen and the committees?

“Besides, if the FAAC allocation to the LGAs is taken away from the states, Rivers can conveniently sustain the caretaker committees till election is conducted. So what is the fuss about the local government CTC in Rivers State?, he demanded.

Some thinkers also believe that the ruling APC  desperately needs to take over Rivers State in future election using the FCT minister as their joker with the federal controlled police providing security cover for all that may be necessary to do, fair or foul.

What is more, a High Court order had stopped the proposed congresses for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the state scheduled for last weekend, but in defiance to the court order, the Wike men went ahead to hold the congresses at locations not known to the public.

Statesmen, public spirited individuals and groups have voiced their concerns over the unhealthy political developments in Rivers State, calling on the FCT minister who is clearly the aggressor in the crisis to allow his successor, Gov. Siminalayi Fubara to do his job.

No dice. But like former President Goodluck Jonathan recently warned, the political crisis may snowball into a regional and national crisis with dire consequences on the corporate existence of the nation. The looming anarchy can be stemmed especially if President Tinubu shows a patriotic interest in the political imbroglio.