Rivers: War without end

FROM CHRIS ANUCHA, PORT  HARCOURT

The   political crisis  in Rivers State  portends  danger  for Nigeria’s democracy and capable of taking the  state   backwards in terms of  development.  The political  battle  in  the “Treasure Base of  the Nation’’ is about who gets  what position in  the  state Peoples Democratic Party in  2015.  And the warring factions, all from  the PDP family, are taking it for granted that there is no credible opposition in the state, fighting like deaf and dumb,   leaving  no chance  or opportunity  for  reconciliation and peace.Even, Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s opponents, who thought they could ‘topple’ him in a matter of months, especially  after  the judgment of Abuja High Court, which sacked Godspower  U. Ake executive on April 15, 2013, have since realised that they miscalculated and  are ashamed of admitting this obvious  fact publicly. Not even the anti-Amaechi protesters, which, among others, comprised ex-militants, could  achieve much in the pursuit of goal of those they were working for. They failed   to successfully,  facilitate and  fast track  the impeachment of the Speaker of  the state House of Assembly, Otelemaba Amachree, as the plan was  technically and legally foiled. What they achieved at the end were, leaving some members with broken heads, jaws,  legs,  hands.  At least, anti-Amaechi group now knows better, that  the fight to overrun the Government House is not as easy as they earlier  thought.

After the April 15 judgment, which installed Chief Felix Obuah-led executive, Amaechi’s opponents, led by his  erstwhile  Chief  of Staff and Minster of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, had  marched ‘triumphantly’ into Port Harcourt City, from Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, on  April 19, 2013, with the  impression that the governor  was sitting in the Government House on borrowed time.  That fateful day, Wike’s group had assembled  jobless youths, market women, some of whom did not know why they   were paid  and driven to the airport. The   tumultuous crowd was to welcome Obuah to assume office as the  new, victorious chairman of PDP.  “That at an unprecedented ‘homecoming’ of the Rivers State PDP Exco on Friday, the 19th  of April, 2013, the good people of Rivers State trooped out in humongous numbers, to welcome and felicitate with Felix Obuah-led Exco, thereby, showing their complete compliance with the rule of Law as well as total unalloyed loyalty and support for the said Felix Obuah-led Exco,” some ten councilors, from Ndoni District in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, once said in  a communiqué they issued at the end  of  a PDP stakeholders meeting.

Bloody but foiled impeachment of  the Speaker:

Another  incident  which  jolted  Amaechi’s opponent was the  incident of Tuesday, July  9, 2013. That was the day the five anti-Amaechi  lawmakers tried to impeach the  Speaker of  the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Otelemaba D. Amachree. The attempt, which  was resisted by the 27 pro-Amaechi lawmakers, resulted in a fracas, which left  Hon. Michael Chinda, representing   Obio/Akpor II, with broken head and jaw. Other lawmakers  also sustained injuries in the free-for-all. It was clear that the plan was to first impeach the Speaker and then  go for the governor’s head.  According to  information, the plot was to impeach  Governor Amaechi   the same week Amachree  was ‘impeached.’

How National Assembly doused the tension:

The intervention of  the National Assembly, especially the House of Representatives, which quickly moved  in  and  indicated its interest to take over the  proceedings of  the  Rivers State House of Assembly, further destabilised the Wike group. The intervention was  in accordance with Section 11(4) of the Constitution of Federal Republic  of Nigeria.  The timely intervention helped to put a stop to the plot, to impeach the governor.

The backing  given to  the House of Representatives by the Senate finally nailed the coffins of initial plot to impeach Governor Amaechi in the nearest possible time. The battle for the soul of Rivers State is still on. Wike group is still mobilizing, to make the governor politically irrelevant before the end of 2013, and the governor seems unshaken. The Minister seems to be doing the talking while the governor seems to have applied ‘action speaks louder than words’ approach.  To him, no retreat, no surrender.  But  only  2015 will  tell.

Rivers’ political crisis in retrospect: 

Some people believe that the  recent,  lingering political   crisis in Rivers  State  was ignited by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo  in  2007.  That year,  the People Democratic Party(PDP), Rivers State chapter,  had nominated  Dr. Peter Odili’s Special Assistant and former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Chibuike  Rotimi  Amaechi, to contest  the governorship seat. But  Chief Olusegun Obasnajo, the  then  president,   unilaterally    disqualified  Amaechi   at  the last minute, citing  his (Amaechi’s) ‘K-leg’ as  the reason for his action. He replaced  Amaechi  with his cousin, Celestine Omehia, who was, however, sacked by the Supreme Court on October 25, 2007, paving way for Amaechi’s emergence as governor of the state. Six years after, the battle between Omehia and  Amaechi  has not ended. Not even efforts  by  some notable clergy, politicians  and   kinsmen,  to reconcile the two brothers  had yielded  positives  results. That is why till date,   one usually  finds  Omehia  in  the  company of those, who are opposed  to  Amaechi’s   government.

Dame Patience Jonathan factor:

Dame Patience  Jonathan officially joined in the battle against  Amaechi  in August,  2010,   after the Governor threatened  to  demolish over   forty waterfront settlements, occupied mainly by  her  Okrika people. Her anger against the Rivers governor was rekindled when stories started making the rounds that Amaechi  was nursing the ambition of   running with the governor of Kano state governor, as Vice President. To the First Lady, who  also has  interest in who succeeds Amaechi ,  the governor’s battle against her husband is  also war against her.

President Jonathan’s role:

President Goodluck  Ebele Jonathan was getting on well with Amaechi until   the health of the  late president Umaru Yar’dua  degenerated to the  point of the debate on whether  or not  to make him (Jonathan) acting president.   It was said that some governors, including  some South-south governors, were opposed  to  his taking over from Yar’Adua.

In spite of that, the president was said to have supported Governor Amaechi to emerge as  Nigeria Governors’ Forum Chairman after Olusola Saraki’s tenure expired. Jonathan’s intention, it was learnt, was to  have a South-south governor, as chairman of NGF, for  him actualise his 2015 political ambition. But  when  Amaechi ascended the throne, the brotherly support was  allegedly lacking.  And  instead,  his position posed a threat to the  realisation of  Jonathan’s  2015  political  ambition.

To pay him back in his own coin, the president started looking  a South-south politician, a Rivers man, he could use to  cut the governor to size. He found this in the person of the Minster of  State  for Education, Chief  Nyesom  Wike. Till date, Governor Amaechi  has continued to  deny  that he has plans to contest as vice president under APC or any other party at that.

Governor Amaechi once confirmed    President’s antagonism  against him this way: “When the Federal Government suspects that you have an ambition, they do everything to bring you down. For instance, we   have two helicopters to monitor security, that they refused permission to be brought into the country and they have frustrated plans we have to open a syringe manufacturing factory in Rivers State.”

“Even if they have an issue with me, why should the whole Rivers State  suffer? We  have numerous projects, which we have signed agreements with the Federal Government  to introduce and implement but since this crisis began, they have suspended all of them and  the people feeling  it are the ordinary people of Rivers State.” Many people  believe, rightly or wrongly, that  the President is  fueling the unending  political crisis in Rivers State.

Chief Nyesom Wike factor:

Chief Nyesom wike,  an Ikwerre man as the governor,  from Obio/Akpor Local Government Area,  was the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt. He was also the Director-General of Amaechi Campaign Organisation in 2011. The former two-time Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area and current Minister of State for Education, started having problems with Amaechi, when he  was alleged to  be eyeing  the Senatorial seat,  Governor  Amaechi  was initially   planning to contest in  2015. Two of them are from the same Senatorial zone. When the face-off between Amaechi and Dame  Patience  Jonathan,  and  later, the President  began,  Wike made himself available to be used for the fight against his brother.  Without doubt, the fight between Amaechi and Wike  started  initially, as a result of  who becomes a Senator in their  zone in  2015.

Chief Felix Obuah: 

He was the former chairman of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State. He was said to have contested  for the Chairmanship  of the  Rivers State PDP, with  Chief  Godspower Ake  and  lost to Ake. But some people claimed that Obuah, popularly known in the state as ‘Go round’, neither picked  the chairmanship form, nor showed  up  at the venue, the  day  the election was conducted.   But an Abuja High Court, presided over  by Justice Ishaq  Bello,  sacked  Ake   and his executive on April  15, 2013. Consequently, Obuah –led executive was inaugurated in Abuja on April 16. Since he took over, as the State Chairman of Rivers PDP, a lot has happened in the  Rivers political space. The crisis has continued to deepen and is still deepening.

Prince Timothy Nsirim: 

He is the Chairman  of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, suspended alongside  17 Councilors, by  the Rivers House of Assembly. Some people  described him as Chief  Nyesom Wike ‘boy’. His  loyalty to the Minister of State for Education,  is not in doubt. This , many believe, had also  made him incur the wrath of the governor. For instance, his Council’s monthly allocation was once withheld,  because of poor sanitation of  the  area, especially,  for allowing the springing up of  illegal  structures along the airport Road. Sometime in 2012, Nsirim  was  commissioning  the Obio/Akpor International Market, constructed by his administration, and the absence of  Governor Amaechi almost marred the ceremony. The governor was said to have shunned  the event because of  Nsirim’s  loyalty to Wike.

Though, the wife of the governor, Dame Judith Amaechi, later attended the occasion, but that did not  take away the political undertone his  husband’s absence created. That day, the disappointed and  furious  Nsirim was seen, fuming with rage, as he apologized to crowd for the late start of the ceremony(The crowd had waited  endlessly  and in vain, for the arrival of the Governor). “Please, be patient, you  all  know  what is happening, it  is political”, Nsirim  was quoted as saying . It was the same  no love lost,  between  Amaechi and Wike,  not a few  people believe this, that saw his suspension by the state Assembly, alongside his Vice and seventeen(17) Councilors, over allegation of misappropriation of funds.

GDI  as an attack dog of Wike group:

Grassroots Development  Initiative (GDI)is a social-political group and  a political structure,  being used by the Wike/Obuah faction of PDP,  to fight Governor Amaechi.  Led  by Bright Amaewhule, also Ikwerre man , GDI has been responsible  for  organizing most of the anti-Amaechi protests in the state, including the one, where  some governor from the north were stoned at the Port Harcourt International Airport. GDI is the platform being used   by Wike  to lunch verbal missile  against the governor.  To be able achieve this, GDI started what it called, inauguration of its  executives in all  the  23 Local Government Areas of the state. During  such inaugurations, which looked more like political  campaign, speakers used the opportunity to attack Amaechi and canvass support for President Goodluck  Ebele Jonathan, Wike and Obuah-led PDP executive.

Factionalized national PDP as a setback for Amaechi’s opponents:

Just as the taking over of the State Assembly by the National Assembly, the recent break-up of   PDP was a great setback to  anti-Amaechi  group.

Before the mini convention in Abuja,  on Saturday August 31, 2013, where some  governors and others, including the  former Vice President, Atiku Abubarkar,  staged a walk-out, to form a parallel PDP,  with Alhaji  Kawu Baraje as the chairman, anti-Amaechi group in Rivers never wanted to hear anyone refer to them as,  a ‘factional group’ or ‘factional PDP’.

As far as the Obuah-led group was concerned, there was no faction in Rivers PDP or PDP in general. To the group also, it was in control of the political  structure in the state once controlled by Amaechi. At one of the inauguration of GDI executives in one of the local governments, Chief Wike had boasted how he would not handover  the political structure the group had captured, to Governor Amaechi. But it dawned on the group on Saturday, August 31, 2013 that there could be faction, and that Amaechi has not lost grip after all.  The break-up was indeed, a sad moment  and setback for  anti-Amaechi group.

 Amaechi’s ADC  declared  deserter by police:

The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar and the Rivers State police Commissioner, Mr.  Mbu Joseph Mbu, appear not ready to the  allow voice of reason to prevail in Rivers State. In the heat of the crisis, Mbu issued a press statement, banning all protests in the state.  In the statement, dated July 10, 2013, and signed by the Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO), Mrs. Angela Agabe, a Deputy Superintendent of Police(DSP) warned that police would use minimum force to disperse anybody or group of persons, no matter how highly placed. But from all indications, the ban was for pro-Amaechi group. Even when  the police perceived  that some human rights groups were staging a protest which was against their role in Rivers crisis, and some persons fighting Amaechi, they tried to scuttle it. But the Nigeria police looked the other way, each time anti- Amaechi  group staged protest in the state. For instance,  the police were  aware of the protests  by GDI, at the Port International airport, against the northern governors and no one was arrested.

The national Assembly had recommend  that  Mbu be redeployed, yet Nigeria police have turned deaf ears to this. Only recently, the  police declared Amaechi’s Aide-de-Camp(ADC), Debeware Semeikumo, an Assistant Superintendent of Police(ASP) a deserter. Semeikumo, who also  sustained injuries during the July 9, 2013, Assembly fracas  and  receiving treatment abroad,  was also  removed as Amaechi’s ADC.

According to Augustine Sanomi, an Assistant Commissioner of Police(ACP), who issued a statement on the matter, on behalf of the CP, the decision to declare  Semeikumo deserter  was based on Section 398(1) of the Police Act and Regulation Cap 359 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990. The IGP had invited the ADC to Amaechi and Chief Security Officer, Tony Iwelu,  but  the duo have not honoured the invitation.

Reacting to the development, the Rivers State government, through the Commissioner for information and Communication, Mrs. Ibim Sementari, described  police action as another mischief. She said the police Command was  already aware that  Amaechi’s ADC sustained  injuries and was out of the country  for further treatment.