The major political actors in the crisis rocking Rivers State, Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, appear to have reached a truce on Monday night after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Villa in Abuja.
According to reports President Tinubu met with sides involved in the crisis and secured commitments from all sides to abide by a set of eight resolutions reached at the parley.
The resolution, signed by both Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his predecessor and minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, spelt out steps expected by parties in the conflict to take.
Other signatories of the resolution are the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Dr Ngozi Ordu; Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, a loyalist of the FCT minister, Hon Martin Amaewhule; acting chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Chukwuemeka Aaron; and the All Progressives Congress (APC) caretaker committee chairman, Chief Tony Okocha.
Resolutions
- According to reports, it was agreed that all matters instituted in the courts by the warring parties should be withdrawn immediately.
- It was agreed by all parties especially the Wike’s camp that all impeachment proceedings initiated against the governor by the Rivers State House of Assembly be dropped immediately
- The parties in the feud agreed to recognise the leadership of Martin Amaewhule in the Rivers State House of Assembly and not that of Edison Ehie. The 2 camps agreed to recognise Amaewhule and his 26 allies who decamped from the PDP to the APC.
- Other resolutions include “The remunerations and benefits of all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and their staff must be reinstated immediately and the Governor of Rivers State shall henceforth not interfere with the full funding of the Rivers State House of Assembly
- “The Rivers State House of Assembly shall choose where they want to sit and conduct their legislative business without interference and/or hindrance from the Executive arm of Government
- “The Governor of Rivers State, Sir Fubara, shall re-present the state budget to a properly constituted Rivers State House of Assembly
- “The names of all commissioners in the Rivers State Executive Council who resigned their appointments because of the political crisis in the state should be resubmitted to the House of Assembly for approval
- “There should not be a caretaker committee for the local governments in Rivers State. The dissolution of the Local Government administration is null and void and shall not be recognised.”
In case you missed it
- President Bola Tinubu had in his second intervention effort, met with some major stakeholders from Rivers State led by the Governor of the state, Siminalayi Fubara, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday night.
- The meeting which was held to resolve the political crisis which has polarized the state over the past couple of weeks, had other stakeholders which include a former Governor of the oil-rich state, Peter Odili, some traditional rulers from the state and the immediate past Governor of Rivers State and the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
- Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila and the Deputy Governor of Rivers State, were also reported to be part of the meeting.
What this means
- The intervention of the president is expected to help douse the political tension in Rivers State which has been threatening to snowball into full blown crisis.
- Although the resolution may have given Governor Fubara some respite with the dropping of the impeachment action by the 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike, however, it seems that the FCT Minister may have been favoured in the deal with his taken back the control of the House of Assembly and the expected reappointment of the commissioners who had previously resigned.
- Meanwhile, it is still unclear how to deal with the constitutional crisis which had arisen from the defection of the 27 lawmakers from PDP to APC. The constitution had prescribed that any lawmaker who defects from the political party where he was elected to another one will loose his/her position and the seat declared vacant.
The presidency have done more harm to Rivers State than good. I had said before that before the end of this administration’s first four years there will be no other political parties in Nigeria except Apc. Right now Pdp is dead.
The President is directly asking the Governor of Rivers State to resign or be impeached.
Tinubu cannot fold his hands when one of the states is going through crisis and when one of his Ministers is being fingered in the crisis. I’m my mind, I am seeing that s way had been created to boot Wike out of the federal administration. One might think the resolution agenda favoured his camp but I see a bait should that agenda did not cure the crisis st least in the next three months.
@Izuchukwu, that’s NOT Tinubu’s brief.
It is NOT military rule, and the states are NOT branches of the central government. There are constitutional provisions to resolve the issues arising out of the political crises in Rivers State that should be applied instead of trying to circumvent it through chop-I-chop. If Tinubu has nothing to do in-between his foreign trips he should do his job as commander-in-chief to fight arm conflicts and insecurity ravaging the nation. SMH