A former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has declared that the feud between the suspended governor of the oil-rich state, Siminalayi Fubara, and his predecessor, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, is about money sharing.
Amaechi said this in an interview with DW Africa on Saturday.
The ex-governor also said the emergency rule imposed on the state by President Bola Tinubu was unconstitutional.
He said, “The fight between the current governor of Rivers State and the FCT minister is about sharing money. If not, what is the quarrel? Nigerians don’t dislike corruption anymore. I’ve not seen anybody on the street querying what the problem is. Can both of them speak to the public and tell us what the problem is?
“We are now denied democracy. Rivers State is the only state in the country currently not enjoying democracy. They have imposed military rule on us.
“Secondly, the president acted outside the Constitution. Section 188 states how a governor can leave office, either by death, resignation, or impeachment. It didn’t say that one day you wake up and a man called the president of Nigeria will throw you out of office, which makes democracy unstable.”
The former minister stressed that the President had a hand in Rivers’ situation because he wanted to wield power by ousting governors who may not support him in the 2027 general election.
“Rumours are everywhere that if any governor is not careful, the president will remove you. So the Rivers issue is about sharing money and 2027 politics.
“If the President said that the pipe that exploded was the reason why he tagged Rivers unstable and insecure by declaring a state of emergency, what about the other parts of the country where there is insecurity? Is the President saying that they should impose an emergency rule on him?
They can’t because he is a democratically elected President. There are insecurity issues in the North East and North West, even in the South East and South South.
“The governor has no responsibility for the blown pipes in Rivers. Security responsibility rests solely on the President. Why punish a man who did not commit any offence?”
He advised the people of Rivers to resist the emergency rule imposed by the president while urging them to protest the decision.
Recall that the feud between Fubara and Wike came to a climax last week during the local government elections in the state.
Before the elections, there were two court rulings in favour of and against the conduct of the elections by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, led by Justice Adolphus Enebeli (retd.).
In the build-up to the election, the two main political parties, the All Progressives Congress faction in the state led by Tony Okocha and the Peoples Democratic Party under the leadership of Aaron Chukwuemeka, had pulled out of the election, citing a lack of due process.
The two parties loyal to the FCT minister alleged that the RSIEC did not invite them for a stakeholders meeting where the election and other issues were agreed upon.
As the elections approached, Okocha, in two media engagements, expressed confidence that the election would not hold after he filed a suit restraining INEC from releasing the 2023 voters register to RSIEC.
However, the RSIEC Chairman, Enebeli, said he had since collected the state voters register from INEC, though the latter denied officially releasing the document to the state electoral umpire.
This feud led to instability in the state, prompting Tinubu to suspend Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Oduan, and all elected lawmakers of the state House of Assembly for an initial period of six months.
Tinubu, who issued the declaration in a national broadcast, appointed Ibokette Ibas, a retired vice admiral, as Administrator “to take charge of the affairs of the state in the interest of the good people of Rivers State.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, this declaration does not affect the judicial arm of Rivers State, which shall continue to function in accordance with their constitutional mandate,” the president said.
