Rivers Crisis: Why Tinubu’s peace deal collapsed – Fubara

Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has, for the first time, opened up on why the peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu to restore peace in the crisis-torn state collapsed.

The oil-rich Rivers State has been engulfed in a political crisis since 30 October last year after some lawmakers, backed by Nyesom Wike, the FCT minister, attempted to impeach Mr Fubara.

The crisis got messier last December after the seats of the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers were declared vacant following their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

To restore peace, President Bola Tinubu brokered a peace deal between Mr Fubara and his predecessor, Mr Wike.

Messrs Wike and Fubara are battling each other for the control of the political structure in the oil-rich state.

Parts of the conditions in the pact were for Mr Fubara to allow the pro-Wike lawmakers whose seats were declared vacant to return to the Rivers House of Assembly with full restoration of their rights and privileges including holding legislative business at a venue of their choice.

Parties were also asked to withdraw all litigations related to the crisis, a condition Mr Fubara fulfilled while pro-Wike lawmakers allowed their suit challenging the validity of the N800 billion 2024 budget to progress, therefore, outsmarting the governor.

The controversial peace deal was rejected by Rivers Elders Forum while legal practitioners described it as a violation of the country’s constitution but Mr Fubara, in a statewide 2023 Christmas Day broadcast, vowed to implement the pact, arguing that it was not a “death sentence.”

Why the peace deal collapsed

Speaking in Port Harcourt on Wednesday at a Thanksgiving Service marking the first anniversary of the failed impeachment, Mr Fubara blamed Mr Wike’s allies for the collapse of the peace deal.

This is contained in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES by Governor Fubara’s spokesperson, Nelson Chukwudi.

Mr Fubara acknowledged that his opponent outsmarted him by failing to withdraw the suit saying that he later discovered that he was ambushed by his opponents.

“Because we are people of peace, if there is any advantage that was taken over us, it is because of our genuine interest in peace. The preacher said something about peace. I want to tell you that we went to Abuja and Mr President, knowing the importance of peace in Rivers State, brought out some conditions. We came back here to this State.

“First, we did everything that had to be done with those conditions. We went to court immediately and withdrew our matters, but they did not. And you call yourself honourable when you cannot even obey simple instructions, and you blame it on Fubara.

“How is Fubara the problem? Fubara is not the problem! It was because we withdrew our matter, even the matter you filed, and we said we don’t want to continue: you took advantage of it and went and got a judgment. Is it not fraud?”

“… When I discovered that I was being ambushed, not by the person who initiated the peace, but by people who believed that they were smarter,” he said.

The suit

After declaring the seats of the pro-Wike lawmakers vacant, the four-member Rivers Assembly received Mr Fubara who presented the 2024 budget to them – the budget was considered, passed, and signed into law by Mr Fubara within 24 hours, prompting a legal challenge from the pro-Wike lawmakers.

While Mr Fubara had, in compliance with the peace pact, withdrawn all his suits, including the one which challenged the defection of the lawmakers, Mr Wike’s allies allowed theirs to progress.

Mr Fubara has repeatedly lost several legal cases related to the 2024 budget including at the Appeal Court, Abuja, which voided the budget.

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria from further releasing monthly allocations to Mr Fubara for presenting the state budget to a four-member assembly, instead of a properly constituted Rivers House of Assembly, an action the judge, Joyce Abdulmalik described as a “constitutional somersault”.