Rivers Crisis: No Respite as Ijaw Reject Tinubu Intervention

Political crisis in Rivers State may have turned into an ethnic struggle as the Ijaw people of the riverine state have rejected the peace accord brokered by President Bola Tinubu.

The president on Monday night brokered truce between the warring parties and an eight-point resolution was agreed upon by the stakeholders.

As part of the resolutions, the governor was directed to recognise the Martin Amaewhule-led faction of the state House of Assembly alongside the 26 members who dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Reacting to the peace accord on Tuesday, the South-South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark  described the directives issued to Governor Sim Fubara as a resolution of the political crisis as not only appalling but also unacceptable, particularly to the Ijaw ethnic nationality.

The Ijaw leader made the declaration on Tuesday at a press briefing at his residence in Abuja, threatening to take legal action.

He said the eight-point resolution is undemocratic, dictatorial, one-sided, and aimed at handing over the political leadership of Rivers State to the former governor of the state and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

According to him, from the terms of the purported settlement, it is obvious that President Tinubu used his role as a mediator to once again show gratitude to the FCT minister for “delivering” Rivers State to him during the last presidential elections.

He observed that Tinubu had previously gratified Wike by making him the minister of FCT.

Clark noted that the attendees of the meeting were one-sided in favour of the minister while adding that Fubara was ambushed and intimidated into submission.

Clark said, “The terms of settlement as contained in the communiqué issued at the end of the reconciliatory meeting are what is baffling, appalling, and unacceptable to the people, especially the Ijaw ethnic nationality.

“First Observation: The composition of the attendees of the meeting was one-sided in favour of Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), because while Martins Amaewhule, a former Speaker (because he automatically lost his seat the very moment he decamped to another political party), was present at the meeting, it would have only been equitable and expedient for Edison Ehie, the Speaker, as affirmed by constitutional provisions and by the granting of the court, to be in the meeting, if the purpose was sincere.

“President Tinubu should know that with all the powers he possesses, he cannot override the Constitution.

“From all that transpired at the meeting, the laws of the land have not been obeyed. President Tinubu simply sat over a meeting where the Constitution, which is the fulcrum of his office as president and which he swore to uphold and abide by, was truncated and desecrated.”

Clark pointed out that the Nigerian Constitution is clear on what should happen to the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who left the political party on which platform they were

He described the directive to re-submit the names of Commissioners who have resigned their appointments on their own volition as ridiculous.

The former Federal Commissioner of Information also observed that the directive for Fubara to re-present the state budget already passed into law and signed “is absolutely ridiculous and unconstitutional.”

Clark maintained, “By the actions of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he has really shown his dislike and disdain for the Ijaw people and confirmed his hatred for them. And as the leader of the Ijaws, we will resist it.”

He vowed that the directive that members of the House of Assembly will choose where they will sit to carry out their legislative duties will be resisted, as according to him, “it is the duty of the executive to provide legislative accommodation for the Houses of Assembly, including the National Assembly, and not the members of the House of Assembly to choose a place to meet.”

Clark accused Fubara of showing “feebleness of character, by agreeing and appending his signature to a document containing such absurdity,” adding, “He has betrayed the people who elected him as governor and those who stood behind him in this cause.

“Mr. Fubara has shown naivety in his actions; by signing that document, he has signed his death warrant, believing that the president will show him some sort of favour. Mr. Fubara’s mandate is constitutional, and so he cannot surrender it in the face of intimidation from any quarter.”

He warned, “We will resist any attempt, subtle, subterranean, covert, overt, to make an elected Ijaw son, Siminialayi Fubara, the Governor of Rivers State, a servant, a stooge to Nyesom Wike, who had boasted that any attempt by the governor to touch his so-called ‘Wike’s structure’, with the connivance and support of President Bola Tinubu, will be resisted by us.”

On Tuesday, all eyes were open to see how the governor would implement the agreements.

While some party faithful criticised the agreement and called on the governor to reject it, others said since Fubara had consented to it, he should go ahead and implement it to ensure peace returns.

In a related development, the National Working Committee (NWC) of PDP went into an emergency meeting over the matter.

The party’s national leadership is said to be worried about the manner Tinubu resolved the rift between  Fubara and Wike.

Sources said the meeting was expected to come out with the position of the party on the crisis and the way forward.

Earlier, the Acting National Chairman of PDP, Umar Damagum while responding to questions at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday hinted that the party leadership would sanction Wike.

Damagum said, “Our stand about Wike, I have always said this thing that as long as you are a member of the PDP, there is a time for everything.

“My duty is to stabilise this party and not to cause crisis. And I will continue to do that within the confines of reason.”