SPECULATIONS of plans by some powerful forces to orchestrate a situation that could lead to the declaration of an emergency rule in Rivers State may have heightened tension in the state and the entire Niger Delta region.
But in spite of the speculation and the expected consequence of resignation of some commissioners, the Rivers State government said it is unperturbed, insisting that there is no vacuum whatsoever in the state’s cabinet.
The speculations, as gathered by the Sunday Tribune, are due to the raging acrimony between the camps of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers over sundry issues.
The worrisome trend comes amid the bid by elders and leaders of thought in the region, including former Rivers governors, to broker peace and avert further escalation of the feud, due to its negative impact on peace in the Niger Delta.
Findings indicate that the camps are currently en-meshed in a fresh round of claims and counter-claims as those alleged to be the main masterminds of the alleged plan are said to be mounting pressure on higher authorities to initiate moves that could lead to the imposition of an emergency rule on Rivers.
However, the sources said leadership of the country’s security services and intel- ligence were averse to the said idea of an emergency rule in Rivers.
Meanwhile, some groups have threatened that the ongoing acrimony could lead to resurgence of militancy in the creeks.
Various interests in the region traded allegations and counter-allegations at the weekend that some members of the National Assembly in cahoot with the camp of the Wike, who is the immediate past governor of Rivers, are the masterminds of the plot. Some forces are said to be rallying forces across the board to key into the plot.
The speculations have triggered a disquiet among the rank and file of leaders and members of militant groups in the Niger Delta over the threat to security in the region that festered and created serious economic damage before the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua administration came up with the remedy of amnesty programme for the militants.
Under the scheme, hordes of militants were encouraged to lay down their arms, undergo reintegration through skill acquisitions and further academic studies at home and abroad. This has led to restoration of peace and stability in the region with Nigeria regaining lost grounds in terms of improved crude oil production, export and foreign revenue inflow.
It would be recalled that years of militancy in the region had caused a colossal damage to infrastructure and impeded the operations of major oil firms in the area.
According to multiple sources, many stakeholders in Rivers and parts of the region have held series of meetings in the last few days to address the frightening di- mensions that the crisis be- tween the Wike group and governor’s camp has contin ued to assume, coupled with the agitations by groups and individuals on the restora tion of peace in the region.
Penultimate Thursday, 27 members of the state House of Assembly elected on the ticket of the governing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state defected to the All Progressives Con- gress (APC) amid the per- ceived plot to initiate an im- peachment process against the governor.
The state gov ernment, on Monday, de- molished the buildings in the state House of Assembly, fol- lowing what the government called the lack of integrity of the structure caused by the burning of parts of the build- ing by some suspected ar- sonists last October.
Also recall that President Bola Tinubu had intervened in the simmering crisis at the initial stage when both the camp of the minister engaged in altercations fol- lowing the leadership tussle that broke out in the state House of Assembly. How- ever, the president has tac- tically avoided making any categorical statement on the crisis after the intervention in spite of sustained calls by leaders and groups from the region to rein in the belliger- ent forces.
Apparently, this has led prominent persons and leaders of pro-Niger Delta organisations to put fresh pressure on him to avoid delay in allowing normalcy to subsist. They are angry against what they regard as the grand plot to deny Fubara the opportunity to serve the state as the first Ijaw man to be elected governor after winning at the poll. The Ijaw National Congress (INC) and the Ijaw Youths Congress (IYC) are among the groups said to be leading the effort by the former Niger Delta agitators to forge “a united front in the ongoing battle to preserve the status quo ante.”
Meanwhile, the seeming regrouping by the ex-Niger Delta militants is reportedly eliciting panic among some stakeholders in the oil sector in the region, with some concerned individuals seeking Tinubu’s intervention again.
For instance, the president of the INC, Professor Benjamin Okaba, is concerned about what he considered to be the refusal by Tinubu to caution the FCT minister over the festering political crisis in Rivers.
This came on the heels of the clarification by the Federal Government that it has no hand in the crisis rocking Rivers State.
But Okaba claimed: “We are already angered that the government of President Bola Tinubu has marginalised Ijaw people. In Delta State, where three persons were picked for a federal appointment, none is from the Ijaw nation.
“Meanwhile, the Ijaws are the most economically viable in that state. We are noting all of this. But for him to keep quiet and allow Wike to carry on with the way he has so far shows that there is some tacit support. And we shall not take that.
“As we speak, our people are so angered; our people are so frustrated to the extent that we can no longer guarantee, if things continue in this way, the safety of the oil installations in Ijaw land and our region.
“Since 1958, Nigeria has been surviving on the oil that comes from Ijaw land. Today, we are crying about marginalisation; we call it environmental degradation.
“The Ijaw nation is most affected when you talk of climate change and all that. But daily, we are treated as if we are not humans. This must stop.
“40 million Ijaw people are angered and aggrieved. And they are saying that a slap on Governor Fubara is a slap on the entire Ijaw nation.
“Any attempt to further close up our political space to remove Siminalayi Fubara from office is a call for fire.”
No vacuum in Fubara’s cabinet — Commissioner Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, has said that in spite of the mass resignation of cabinet members that hit the Rivers State government in the past 48 hours, the machinery of government in the oil-rich state has continued to move without any disruption.
Checks by Sunday Tribune show that about eight cabinet members have officially tendered their resignations while many are expected to follow.
In an interview with Sunday Tribune, Johnson confirmed that eight commissioners, one senior special assistant and another of the State Procurement Bureau were among those who have withdrawn their services from the state government.
Some of those who have already submitted their resignation letters to the state government through the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) include Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Zachaus Adango, SAN; Commissioner for Special Duties, Emeka Woke; Works, George-Kelly Alabo; the So- cial Welfare and Rehabilita- tion, Inime Aguma and Finance, Isaac Kamalu.
Others are Commissioner for Environment, Austin Ben-Chioma; Transport, Jacobson B. Nbina; Housing, Gift Worlu and Education, Chinedu Mmom.
But the information commissioner allayed fears of the grounding of the government machinery as a result of the resignations, saying that government is organised in such a way as to prevent any vacuum.
He said: “It is usual with everything in life, even in a football where you have 11- man team, when one, two or even three are red carded, the rest of the team will continue to cover up until the game is over. So, in this case now, we will continue pending the time their positions will be filled.
He assured that in the absence of the commissioners that the permanent secretaries of the various ministries, who he described as the owners of the ministries, would continue to run them without interruptions or disruptions.
“Don’t forget that there are permanent secretaries who are the owners of the ministries. The commissioner is just an appointee. The owners of the ministries are permanent secretaries with their directors. There is nothing that will stop the machinery of government. The permanent secretary is an authority. When there’s no governor, there’s a deputy governor who will perform the functions of the governor, if there’s no deputy governor there’s a Speaker of the Assembly. So the government will continue to run, nature abhors vacuum; there won’t be any vacuum.”
Johnson explained: “From the beginning of this regime, they started with four com- missioners, after that they injected five more. It came to nine, and after that they put another. Then the last batch was the one that produced us. It’s an incremental thing. The governor may just wake and then make a decision. I don’t think there’s any problem. Even though the fi- nance commissioner is gone, the permanent secretary is a signatory, the governor is also a signatory to all the accounts as the number one man.”
He, however, said he was not aware of any hustling yet for the replacement of the vacant positions, saying: “These things just happened yesterday. It will be too early to say, but I know that some people will be nursing the idea, so they will start some subterranean moves.”
In his response, the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State, Tambari Sydney Gbaragbara, said the party was only worried about the impasse between the legislature and executive in the state but not the defections and resignations, adding that the party was not losing sleep over that.
“As a party, we are worried about the impasse between the legislature and the executive, but the defections and resignations are not giving us a sleepless night because PDP is on ground in Rivers State. So, the party has moved on since then,” he said.
He expressed confidence in the capacity of Governor Fubara to weather the storm successfully without being distracted from delivering good governance to Rivers State.
“Governor Fubara has shown capacity as a humble, calculative, and diligent leader who can surmount any challenge in governance, hence the current crisis in the state will not in any way distract the governor from delivering the dividends of democracy to Rivers people,” the state PDP spokesman declared.
He added: “Our advice to the governor is simple: remain focused on the ball. Do n’t lose sight of your target in your service to the people.
“We believe that the governor has what it takes to choose the right capable hands to fill those vacant positions, but, however, in any way the party’s advice is sought, we will gladly oblige ourselves to assist him.”
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