Rivers crisis: Condemnations trail police conduct

The political disagreement between the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara and his estranged godfather and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has degenerated to a point that the police have unfortunately been dragged into the matter.

Wike and his successor, Fubara, have been engaged in a political struggle over the control of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, structure in the state for some months now.

The problem between the two political bigwigs started a few months after Fubara assumed office as the Governor of Rivers State.

He fell out with Wike, who was alleged to have anointed him. The real cause of their disagreement has remained in the realm of public conjecture, as various reasons have been adduced by different persons.

While some said Wike wanted to take 100 percent charge of what happens in the state, others said he wanted a large chunk of the state allocation given to him every month as compensation for making Fubara governor of the state.

However, there is also another opinion that Fubara would not accept any of the conditions given to him by Wike because according to him, he was elected to serve the interest of the Rivers people and not that of Wike.

With Fubara’s alleged recalcitrant position, the battle line was drawn between him and Wike.

It started with an attempt to impeach the governor, leading to the defection of 27 Rivers House of Assembly lawmakers, led by the Speaker, Martins Amaewhule, from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The move was perceived by analysts as the first step to the grand plan to move an impeachment proceeding against Fubara.

But, Fubara would not just fold his arms and allow himself to be felled like a tree. He quickly moved into action and the remaining three lawmakers loyal to him elected a new Speaker, who immediately declared the seats of the 27 defected lawmakers vacant.

The Governor presented the 2024 budget to the three members of the House and thereafter, signed it into law after its passage by the lawmakers.

From that moment up till last Saturday, when the local government elections were held to elect the council chairmen and councilors, it has been from one problem to the other for the governor.

Before last Saturday’s election, the role of the police in the brouhaha had become suspicious in the eyes of many, with some accusing the police of taking sides against the Governor.

This was demonstrated when the Governor dissolved the former council executives at the expiration of their tenure and appointed caretaker committees in their place.

The defected 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike whose seats had been declared vacant extended the tenure of the former council chairmen and councilors by six months.

Based on the extension, the former chairmen and councilors did not want to vacate their offices. But when the Governor constituted caretaker committees to replace them, all hell was let loose and the police were deployed to seal all the local government secretariats in the state.

The 27 local government headquarters of the state remained under lock and key, with heavily armed policemen guarding them until Monday, October 7, a day after the newly elected chairmen and councilors were sworn into office by the Governor.

The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun had issued a statement on Monday morning, ordering the Rivers State Commissioner of Police to instruct his men to unseal and vacate all the 27 local government secretariats with immediate effect.

However, before then, the police had come out openly to say that they would not provide security during the council elections held on Saturday, October 5.

The governor was alleged to have responded by telling the police that whether they provided security or not, the election would hold.

That was after a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, not to provide the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, with the voters’ register for the purpose of the local council election.

In the same vein, a Rivers State High Court had also ordered INEC to provide RSIEC with the voters’ register so that the council election could be held.

Following the two conflicting orders by two courts of coordinate jurisdictions, the belief in some quarters was that the Governor would take that of Rivers State since the matter is domiciled in the state and should not have been taken to Abuja in the first instance.

The Governor equally argued that the Abuja high court did not say that the election should not hold but only said that INEC should not provide RSIEC with the voters’ register, a decision Fubara said would not stop the election.

“What is the business of the IGP ? That will show you the level of impunity in this country.

“Obviously, there is another angle to it. Somebody is somewhere paying the piper to play the tune; that is the fact.

“The police are a federal agency and there is a federal interest through a particular individual, so what is happening is brigandage.

“No matter what you may say about Fubara and his tactics, some people are trying to rubbish him or twist his arms.

“The problems in Rivers State can be curtailed by the President calling Wike to order. But he will not do that because what Wike is doing is in favour of the APC and the President.

“The President should just call Wile to order. You cannot be a minister from the PDP and APC and try to run Rivers State indirectly; it is not done and that is the tragedy of what is happening. We are watching them,” he said

In his contribution, Alhaji Yusuf Shehu, a former Katsina State House of Assembly member described what is happening in Rivers as a matter between the state and the federal government.

He noted that the police didn’t act according to the constitution of the land.

He said: “There is no reason an individual should be directing the police on how to conduct their functions.

“The governor is the chief security officer of his state; therefore, the police should listen and take instructions from him as long as such instructions are not against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and not to receive instructions from Abuja to withdraw the police personnel that were securing the local council secretariats.

“And you can see the outcome of that singular action, about six local government secretariats were set ablaze by hoodlums.

“It is because of the police withdrawal. Remember that the governor had earlier said such withdrawal would give room for hoodlums to take over and that was what happened exactly.

“So, the police didn’t act professionally in the Rivers State local government election; they were biased and it is not healthy for our democracy.”