A rough tabulation of those who objected to the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, in particular the suspension of the Governor, Deputy Governor and State Assembly, include Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, Chief Bode George, former President Jonathan [using parables], Rabi’u Kwankwaso [after initial hesitation], Wole Soyinka, Femi Falana, Mike Ozekhome, PDP Governors’ Forum, Pan Niger Delta Forum, South South Governors Forum, Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, Afenifere, Northern Elders Forum, Nigeria Bar Association, Pan African Bar Association, Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, Ijaw youths, Citizens and Civil Society Organisations, to mention but a few.
Irony number one: To identify the last time we saw this kind of widespread objection to a Draconian government move, we may have to go all the way back to 1986, when the Babangida regime was about to execute Major General Mamman Vatsa and other alleged coup plotters. Or maybe we must go to a year earlier in 1985, when the Buhari/Idiagbon military regime was about to execute the three convicted cocaine pushers Bartholomew Owoh, Bernard Ogedengbe and Lawal Akanni Ojuolape. On both occasions the newspapers published long lists of organisations and prominent individuals who objected, quite similar to the lists of last week, except for clerics, who kept quiet this time.
Second irony: Only these individuals and groups waka kom? Among those expected to be up in arms at Governor Fubara’s suspension is the National Secretariat of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party [PDP], whose prominent member he is. In fact, Fubara’s trouble is mostly because, unlike the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, he did not obey FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s orders and decamp to APC. PDP, you have only twelve governors, having recently lost Edo State. One of them is unceremoniously and probably unconstitutionally suspended from office, will you keep quiet? Does your silence lend credence to the allegation that PDP’s National Working Committee is controlled by Nyesom Wike, the top beneficiary of last week’s sordid events in Rivers?
Third irony: Nigeria Governors Forum [NGF], no too? One of your members is controversially suspended from office, and all you can say is that NGF “does not take a position on partisan issues because it can divide its members, who belong to different political platforms.” Is that to say you guys don’t stand for any principle, only partisanship?
Fourth irony: National Assembly’s “unanimous” passing of the President’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State. How did this happen when, even though both chambers have an APC majority, members of the opposition PDP, LP, NNPP, SDP and APGA had the numbers to deny the two-thirds majority required to pass it? A governor of a very important opposition controlled state is controversially suspended, will you keep quiet?
Fifth irony: MPs decided at an “executive session” [the Nigerian parliamentary slang for conspiracy] that the declaration should be approved by voice vote. The Constitution says two thirds of members must vote to ratify it; if there was no division, how will we ever know if that threshold was met and who voted for what?
Sixth irony: The contrast between what National Assembly leaders did last week and what they did in 1999. At the very beginning of this Republic, the first governor of Anambra State, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, refused for a week to issue a proclamation to inaugurate the State Assembly, allegedly because he was quarrelling with his political godfather over the choice of Assembly principal officers. It reached a stage where the MPs demonstrated on the streets of Awka. House of Representatives Speaker Ibrahim Salisu Buhari, later found to be under aged, still had the wisdom to proceed to Awka, threatened to take over the Assembly’s functions and coerced the governor to issue the proclamation. Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, neither of whom is thought to be under-aged, how come you didn’t have Salisu Buhari’s kind of wisdom, you didn’t fly to Port Harcourt, summon the MPs and the governor and sort things out? Similarly in March 2016, House of Representatives voted to take over the functions of Kogi State House of Assembly due to a festering leadership crisis. No state of emergency was necessary.
Seventh irony: Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi’s role in the Rivers affair. Up until last week, Fagbemi had been totally uncontroversial, unlike his predecessors Bayo Ojo, Aondoakaa, Bello Adoke and Abubakar Malami. Many people even wondered whether President Tinubu consulted him before he made his broadcast. In 2013 when President Goodluck Jonathan was about to declare a state of emergency in the three North Eastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, Attorney General Bello Adoke advised him against trying to remove the state governors and state assemblies. There is viral video of Chief Edwin Clark berating Adoke for stopping the removal of the three governors when, according to Clark, all three of them were opposition APC governors who were fueling the Boko Haram insurgency in order to bring down the Jonathan presidency. Fagbemi’s press conference last week however went beyond the legal and controversially dived into the political.
Eighth irony: Comparison of situations that necessitated previous states of emergency and this one. In 2004 when President Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in Plateau State, the state had dissolved into inter-communal chaos, with ethnic militias blocking highways, profiling travelers and killing them. The North East in 2013 was much worse, Boko Haram having overran scores of local government areas in the three states. The situation in Rivers State last week was nowhere near either situation.
Ninth irony: Between Plateau and North East emergencies, there was a major difference. While President Obasanjo suspended Governor Joshua Dariye and the State Assembly and appointed Major General Chris Alli as Military Administrator, Jonathan left the democratic structures intact. He suspended civil liberties and flooded the three states with soldiers and security agents. Both templates, legal or illegal, helped ameliorate the situations. Last week, President Tinubu borrowed the Obasanjo template, instead of the Jonathan one.
Tenth irony: The 1999 Constitution states in Sub-section 2 of Section 1 that “The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.” Last week, a Navy Admiral took control of a part of Nigeria, when no one in Rivers elected him, in a situation that fell far short of anarchy, insurrection or war, when the Constitution nowhere provided for Sole Administrator, and when there is no State Assembly to pass his budget or approve his commissioners.
Eleventh irony: I am not a lawyer and I have no knowledge even of customary law. But as a reporter of Nigerian politics in eight different media houses for 30 years, I recall the Supreme Court ruling delivered in 2008, in the case brought by Atiku Abubakar when the Obasanjo presidency declared his Vice President’s seat vacant because he defected from PDP to AC in 2007. It stated, unequivocally, that that there are only four ways in which a President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor could lose his position before the end of his tenure. These are: resignation, impeachment, incapacitation or death. The apex court added that nothing can be added to the Constitution when it did not expressly state it. Just as the Constitution did not mention defection, it also did not mention declaration of state of emergency as a way a governor can be removed.
Twelfth irony: will soon reveal itself at the Supreme Court. It has been much criticized for its earlier judgements on Rivers MPs’ defection, its finances and its local government elections. The ball will soon be back in Supreme Court judges’ court because PDP-controlled state governments say they are going contest the constitutionality of Fubara’s removal.
Thirteenth irony: What message were Presidents Obasanjo and Tinubu sending when, after suspending elected governors, they appointed military men as Sole Administrators? Are they saying, by any means, that only soldiers can get things back in shape when things get out of hand? That is a very dangerous philosophy which erodes the whole essence of democratisation. Fourteenth irony: We sent all the soldiers back to the barracks in 1999 and told them to stay there. Why are we dragging them back, piecemeal, into the governance arena? Since 1999, the only non-military executive position reserved for serving soldiers is Director General of NYSC. Now, retired Generals and Admirals who have been out of power for twenty-five years must be salivating, waiting to be appointed Sole Administrators.
Fourteenth irony: How come that Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas speedily got released to him the Rivers State federation account money that Supreme Court ordered to be withheld from Governor Fubara for certain undemocratic acts? Is Ibas’ unelected administration more democracy-compliant than Fubara’s? And if Supreme Court says withhold something, can Finance Ministry just release it without the court’s permission?
Fifteenth irony: In his televised broadcast on Thursday last week, President Tinubu listed many of Governor Fubara’s misdeeds, including the reckless demolition of the State Assembly complex. He did not however say a word about FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s role in the crisis. Did the Constitution anywhere ascribe a role to godfathers? Mr. President, if your minister takes time off his ministerial job, goes to his home state very frequently, makes unguarded utterances, fights its governor, factionalises its state assembly and orchestrates mass defections to another party, will you keep quiet? Only recently, Western media alleged that President Donald Trump used Russian President Vladimir Putin’s talking points against Ukraine at his press conference. I don’t want Nigerian media to say that President Tinubu used Minister Wike’s talking points against Fubara in his broadcast.
Sixteenth and final irony: President Tinubu’s much touted political credentials as a champion of democracy who fought for it most of his political life and was even exiled for his efforts, could be tainted by the Rivers events. How come that civil society comrades are using words such as illegal, anti-democratic, unconstitutional and even dictatorial to describe the action of a life-long fighter for democracy? Those busy-body lawyers and activists who are saying so, will you keep quiet?
