Rancorous street fighting between Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and his estranged godfather, Nyesom Wike, has got in the way of peace and order in the Local Government Councils of the state. Now contested is the simple democratic principle of holding council elections when the current tenure expires in June 2024, ANN GODWIN reports.
No time has been fixed for the conduct of local council elections in Rivers State, less than three months to the expiration of the tenure of the current elected officials.
Although the River State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) had earlier indicated readiness for the process, there may be no election as and when due after all.
Last week, the Rivers State House of Assembly passed an amended version of the Rivers State Local Government Law No. 5 of 2018 and other related matters. The amendment is to empower the House of Assembly to freely extend the tenure of elected chairmen and councillors via a resolution, “where it is not feasible to hold local government elections before the expiration of their three-year term”.
The Executive has rejected the tenure elongation bid, describing it as unconstitutional and self-serving.
The uncurrent, yet again, is the uncouth rivalry between the state legislature and executive on one hand, as well as that between Governor Siminalayi Fubara, and Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, on the other hand.
While members of the state Assembly have not enjoyed the best of relationship with Fubara, his predecessor, Wike, has engaged him in a battle of wits over the political soul of the state. Even the controversial peace accord brokered by President Bola Tinubu has proven futile in appeasing the recalcitrant gladiators.
As it is, Fubara, who is the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, has continued to boost his support base through his people-oriented programmes and projects. Wike, who has a leg in the PDP and another in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has become more intentional in reviving the Grassroots Development Initiatives (GDI), a community-based group that mobilised the electorate during his two-term tenure. Put together, the two-governance structure is tailor-made for chaos.
The minister recently stated that the alliance between PDP and APC in Rivers State is a force nobody can challenge in 2027, explaining that the election would be an easy one for his camp because of the alliance it has forged with other parties.
While the governor strategises on how to contain Wike’s forays, the salvo being served on him from the state House of Assembly is no less worrisome. Most of the lawmakers are loyal to Wike.
To hoodwink the governor, the Martin Amaehule-led House of Assembly had on January 23, passed the Rivers State Local Government Amendment Bill 2023, which it said was aimed at protecting council chairmen from dissolutions and appointment of a caretaker committee by the state government when the tenure of elected officials expires.
Knowing the danger in assenting to such a bill, Fubara declined his assent. Three days later, like a people on a mission, the House overrode the assent of the governor and passed the bill into law.
They did not stop there; four bills they had earlier presented to him were also passed into law.
The Guardian learnt that the House decided to override the governor’s assent at its 99th legislative sitting at the assembly quarters in Port Harcourt, not the Assembly Complex, which had burnt on October 30, 2023, and has since been demolished by Fubara.
They hinged their reason for the passage of the bills on the governor’s failure to assent to them when they were presented to him. They listed the bills to include the Rivers State Local Government law (Amendment) Bill; the Rivers State Traditional Rulers’ Law (Amendment) Bill and the Rivers State Advertisement and Use of State-Owned Property Prohibition (Repeal) Bill.
Amaehule stated after the passage of the bills that they knew the governor would decline, adding however, that the amendment abridged the powers of the governor in suspending local government chairmen and appointment of caretaker committee.
There is suspense among politicians in the state about whether the council election will hold in June or the governor will dissolve the incumbent officials and appoint a caretaker committee.
The State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Joe Johnson said there was no cause for alarm. He said: “The tenure of local government chairmen will expire by June; any bridge we get to, we will cross it. We do not have anything to express fear about whether something will be done or not. It’s a democratic system and once the time is due, the government will take appropriate steps.”
This is not the first time the state government has encountered a bottleneck in its local government administration. During the tenure of Governor Chibuike Amaechi, the same local government law was amended by APC-led lawmakers, who were loyal to Amaechi with which he was able to conduct a local council election on May 23, 2015, a few days before the expiration of his tenure in office. He left office on May 29, 2015. PDP, then controlled by Wike boycotted the election.
A Federal High Court in Rivers State in July 2015, however, nullified the outcome of the election, following an appeal raised by the Wike-led government. Delivering the judgment, Justice Lambo Akanbi, described the election as illegal.
As the intrigues unfold, the state PDP and APC have disagreed on the turn of events.
While the state PDP through its spokesperson, Sydney Garbra, admitted that his party will have a landslide victory at the election; APC caretaker committee chairman, Tony Okocha, accused the PDP of already gripped with fear because its house is in shreds.
Garbra said: “Right now, Governor Fubara is the leader of the party and he is the one in charge, just like his predecessors, Wike, former governors Chibuike Amaechi, and Dr Peter Odili did when local government elections were conducted in their tenure. Fubara will meet with his party stakeholders and ensure the council polls are conducted. His own will not be different.”
“As the leader of the party, he will call party stakeholders and they will discuss the interest of the party.”
He expressed delight that the governor is winning the war because according to him, “even those at the other camp are returning to embrace the governor because he is running an ‘all-inclusive government’ and has the interest of people at heart. He is also delivering programmes and projects that have a direct impact on the people.”
He said PDP stakeholders are drumming support for the governor, adding that those attacking Fubara supporters are acting in ignorance. “They cannot stop a moving train”, he added.
Okocha however, predicted that the PDP would fail woefully if the local council polls were conducted.
He said: “If PDP is confident to emerge victorious in the polls, then, they should allow the elections to be held. PDP in Rivers State is moribund and in the Intensive Care Unit. What you see there are strange bird fellows, where the 27 Assembly members have left the party, and decamped to another political party.
“The law says that three months to the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent local government council chairmen, RSIEC should put out a timetable notifying the parties of fresh elections, so that they will start to prepare. Then, one month within the three months will enable the parties to prepare themselves.
“If PDP claims it holds the structure, why are they foot-dragging in conducting the election? There are certain things human beings cannot skew. Why are they afraid? If PDP is not afraid, let them conduct the elections,” he added.
Meanwhile, at the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), nothing is on the ground to assure preparations for the council election. During a visit by the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in the state in January, this year to his office to ascertain the level of preparedness for the exercise, its chairman, Justice Adolphus Enebi, assured that the commission was ready and willing to carry out their task.
However, findings by The Guardian showed that, though RSIEC is wearing a new look as the complex has been renovated and painted, funds have not yet been released for the conduct of the polls.
It was further learnt that the election planning committee has been set up but they are still not functioning due to lack of funds.
A senior staff of RSIEC, who spoke in confidence, said: “Nothing is going on at the moment and the tenure of the chairmen will soon expire. Ideally, by now, we are supposed to have started creating awareness by moving around the 23 local governments.”
A policy and political analyst, Olalekan Ige, said the entire process has a statutory timeframe. “There should be time for everything. According to the Electoral Act, the above preparations are not later than 120 days and earlier than 90 days before the expiration of those that are in office.”
He urged the political actors in the state to close ranks and resolve the issues, stressing that “it is time for governance in Rivers State and no more time for war, to help achieve the dreams and aspirations of the forefathers in the state.”
A community leader, Ike Wigodo, said when the tenure of the council chairmen expires, the governor could direct the Heads of Local Government Administration in Councils to take over the leadership.
“Candidly, as it is now, the processes required to take place before the council elections cannot be achieved,” he said.
