*Photo: Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State *
In a 31 December, 2023 article titled “Fubara and Politics 101,” this column outlined aspects of politics that Governor Fubara needed to pay attention to. These include: “One, the interest of the Governor and the state, on one hand, and those of the Governor’s presumed supporters, on the other, may be diametrically opposite. … Two, a good politician knows that genuflections and affectations of love for an incumbent office holder are superficial and usually end as the tenure of the holder ends. … Three, as in play-fighting by goats, real politicians do not normally fight with their eyes closed, do not fight to finish and rarely hurt one another fundamentally while fighting. … Four, political feuds between political associates are like elixirs.”
With his governance style, it is not clear how much Governor Fubara has given these lessons consideration. But his standing in the eyes of the law is clear. The Supreme Court in its lead judgement of 28 February, 2025 delivered by Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, Justice, Supreme Court, remarked: “The Appellant [Governor Fubara] that has passion in violating the provisions of the Constitution that he swore to uphold with impunity, disobeying Court’s order at all will using his immunity under Section 308 of 1999 Constitution as a cover is breaking the bridge over which he himself will cross. … My Lords, democracy is anchored on the rule of law not on the rule of might.”
Justice Agim further noted: “A government cannot be said to exist without one of the three arms that make up the government of a State under the 1999 Constitution. In this case, the Head of the Executive arm of the government has chosen to collapse the Legislature to enable him govern without the Legislature as a despot. As it is there is no government in Rivers State.”
The first lesson in Politics 102 which Governor Fubara therefore needs to hold dearly is that, whatever his motives may be, he should subject his actions to the test of due process and the rule of law. In this regard, the lead judgement by Jamilu Yammama Tukur, Justice, Supreme Court, held that “In consequence of the failure to abide by the extant provisions of the Electoral Act Regulating the conduct of the election to the Local Government Areas in Rivers State of 5th October 2024 the said election is hereby declared invalid pursuant to the Provision of Section 150(3) of the Electoral Act 2022.”
Moreover, on the presumed defection of the 27 lawmakers, the Judgement delivered by Uwani Musa Abba Aji, Justice, Supreme Court, ruled: “Similarly, the media was agog also with the charade and façade of defection from PDP to APC by the Hon. Martin Amaewhule-led members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. However, while the media most times may deal with public opinions and comments, the court of law deals with facts, which are sacred. … In the instant case, the evidence of defection of the 27 lawmakers of Rivers State House of Assembly to APC has been left in the limbo or completely not present for this court to act upon.”
Citing Section 96 of the 1999 Constitution which provides that “The quorum of the House of Assembly shall be one third of the members of the House,” Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, Justice, Supreme Court, noted: “4 out of 31 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly cannot by any stretch of imagination constitute required quorum for transacting a legislative business of the Rivers State House of Assembly. The conduct of the Appellant in presenting the Appropriation Bill to 4 out of 31 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly is a gross violation of Section 91 of 1999 Constitution as amended he swore to uphold when he took the oath of office and oath of allegiance of the Constitution.”
As a result, the Court ordered as follows in the lead judgement read by Justice Agim: “(1) The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Accountant General of the Federation should forthwith stop releasing and paying to the Government of Rivers State, its organs, departments and officials any money belonging to the Rivers State until an Appropriation Law is made by Rivers State House of Assembly constituted as prescribed by the 1999 Constitution. (2) The Right Honorable Martin Chike Amaewhule and the other 26 members should forthwith resume unhindered sitting as Speaker and members respectively of the Rivers State House of Assembly. (3) The Rivers State House of Assembly should resume sitting with all elected members forthwith.”
The second lesson in Politics 102 which Governor Fubara has, incidentally, learnt through direct experience is that political relationships are dynamic, and that old mindsets cannot be used to conduct new businesses. This is exemplified in the Governor’s visit to the Rivers State House of Assembly on 12 March, 2025 without a clear and mutually agreed understanding of what the preliminary processes should be.
According to the Governor, speaking in front of the locked gates of the Rivers State House of Assembly, he was at the House “to comply with the Supreme Court judgement. Before my arrival, I’ve already made several attempts by phone call to reach the Speaker and other members. I also did a letter personally which was transmitted to the Honourable Speaker for this particular invitation. But it’s unfortunate that, at the gate, you can see that the place is completely sealed and there’s no sign that anything is going to happen today. … Well, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. Maybe, they’re working on the letter. I expect to hear from them, maybe after this hour.”
In the letter personally signed by the Governor and dated 11 March, 2025, and published by Channels Television on 12 March, 2025, he wrote: “[We] wish to notify Mr. Speaker of our desire and intention to present the 2025 Rivers State Appropriation Bill to the Rivers State House of Assembly on Wednesday 12 March 2025 by 10:00 a.m.” It appears as if this letter and the unsettlingly short ‘notice of meeting’ rather than ‘request for meeting’ did not make allowance for due bureaucratic processing of the letter. It also seemed to have been underlain by the attitude that the Governor, rather than the Speaker, had the overriding say in the scheduling of the legislative budget presentation meeting. The Governor himself probably recognised the problem with this presumption when he said: “Maybe, they’re working on the letter.”
Moreover, was an advance party of the Governor’s aides not expected to have been at the House of Assembly to assess the situation on ground and advise their principal appropriately? The spectacle created at the gate to the legislative complex where a helpless Governor Fubara was shut out was not sufficiently elevating, especially considering the fact that he had in the past called that same complex “my property”. The status of the legislators has been immensely enhanced since the 28 February, 2025 Supreme Court judgement. The Governor should therefore desist from any conduct that has the potential to demystify him or attract indignities to his office.
The third lesson is that any politician who intends to go far should identify successful or influential politicians and read their lives like a book. Governor Fubara should realise that the only shortcut to experience is vicarious experience. He needs to ask himself the following questions: How have or do they handle benefactors, ingrates and political peers? How have or do they navigate obstacles? How have or do they deploy silence? And when they decide to speak, how have or do they do it to ensure that their opponents pay attention?
To cite one example, if Governor Fubara didn’t know of President Tinubu’s political sagacity as at 18 December, 2023 when he brokered a peace deal between the feuding sides in Rivers State, at least he knows the President’s political far-sightedness now that the Supreme Court has settled the legal issues in the Rivers State Peoples Democratic Party crisis.
In both the Abuja resolutions and the Supreme Court judgement, Governor Fubara has been asked to recognise the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers and re-present the state’s budget to the whole House of Assembly to repair the travesty of having questionably presented it to only 4 or 3 lawmakers loyal to him. At a meeting with a delegation of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) at the Presidential Villa on 11 March, 2025, President Tinubu advised Governor Fubara to obey the Supreme Court judgement, and enjoined PANDEF to help him to do so.
The fourth lesson of Politics 102 is that a politician needs to maintain a very sharp focus. The focus dictates consistency, prioritisation of interests and sacrifice. Governor Fubara has noted that a lot of the state’s resources have been wasted on the crisis. It was therefore hope-inspiring that while commissioning the Judges’ Quarters on 11 March, 2025, the Governor acknowledged, with due deference, the presence of legal luminary Sir O.C.J. Okocha, SAN, whom he had publicly demeaned in the past.
However, he followed this with the crisis-perpetuating act of treating the House of Assembly members with less than due respect with regard to the ill-advised hasty attempt to visit the legislature to re-present the budget on 12 March, 2025.
Governor Fubara needs to be advised that paying the 27 legislators their withheld salaries and entitlements does not require a meeting between them and the Governor. There are records of the value of each legislator’s salary and the number of months for which it was withheld. As a measure of goodwill, the Governor should just direct the appropriate financial officers of the state government to pay the outstanding salaries and entitlements. He should avoid any foot-dragging that could question his sincerity regarding working towards enduring reconciliation.
The fifth lesson is that, as William Shakespeare put it, sweet are the uses of adversity. All of the crisis in Rivers State may yet make the state a model of democratic practice.
Since there seems to be a balance of forces between the Executive and the Legislature in the state, it may not be misplaced to hope for free and fair Local Government elections. If that happens, it would present the nation with a salutary model different from the cases in some states where, in their Local Government elections, election victors emerge without election figures.
The situation has become so bad that there are widespread calls for the scrapping of the so-called State Independent Electoral Commissions charged with organising Chairmanship and Councilorship elections. Should proper Local Government elections be held in Rivers State, Governor Fubara would be the acknowledged champion of that democratic rebirth.
In the coming days, the Governor will be receiving all sorts of advice.
May the ones which will ease his troubles be sweeter to his ears.