Former President Goodluck Jonathan is among eminent Nigerians said to be making a case for suspended Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State, behind the scenes, to be returned to his position on or before June 12.
Jonathan, according to sources, has engaged President Bola Tinubu in at least one telephone conversation on the need to reinstate the suspended governor on or before June 12 in the spirit of Democracy Day.
The president will, according to tradition, address the nation in a broadcast on June 12.
Tinubu had, on March 18, suspended Fubara from office for six months, but many people described the action as unconstitutional as, according to them, there is no part of the Constitution which empowers the president to suspend/remove an elected governor in the event that emergency rule imposition becomes inevitable in any part of the country.
The critics cite Section 305, which provides for emergency rule without the suspension/removal of an elected governor.
They also refer to Section 188, which vests the removal of elected officials solely on the state House of Assembly.
Nevertheless, Tinubu slammed six months suspension on Fubara while also applying the same punishment on his deputy and members of the state House of Assembly, most of whom were loyal to Fubara’s predecessor, Nyesom Wike, incumbent Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and who (lawmakers) had commenced the impeachment process against Fubara.
The suspension was the climax of the fight between Fubara and Wike over the control of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State and appointments into key positions in government.
It had been speculated that Tinubu could lift the suspension on May 29 when the nation celebrated the second anniversary of his administration, but, as that did not happen, many people are banking on June 12 reinstatement.
Four days from today, June 12 precisely, Nigeria will celebrate another Democracy Day, marking 26 years of uninterrupted democratic governance since 1999.
Every June 12, since the 1993 presidential election won by the late Chief MKO Abiola, Nigerians reminisce on the president who was never sworn-in, his wife, Kudirat, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, and Pa Alfred Rewane, among others, who also sacrificed their lives for the democracy the nation enjoys today.
President Bola Tinubu, also a participant in the struggle, is today a beneficiary of social equality that Chief Anthony Enahoro, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Commodore Dan Suleiman, Chief Arthur Nwankwo, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chief Frank Kokori, Chief Bola Ige, and Chief Adekunle Ajasin, who have departed this life, fought for. Among others were Chief Edwin Clark, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Ganiyu Dawodu, Chief Ayo Fasanmi, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Chief Olabiyi Durojaiye, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, and Chima Ubani, who have also transmuted to the upper realm.
In his national broadcast on June 12 last year, when Nigeria celebrated its 25th anniversary of unbroken democracy, Tinubu noted, “No matter how democracy may be, it is the best form of governance in the long run.”
He added, “We must also be aware that there are those among us who will try to exploit current challenges to undermine, if not destroy, this democracy for which so much has already been given.
“As president of this nation, I am morally and constitutionally bound to preserve this precious form of governance. I vow to do my utmost best to protect your rights, freedoms, and liberties as citizens of Nigeria.”
It is on his above vow that he is morally and constitutionally bound to preserve democracy that Nigerians, among many other things, wait for his newfangled position on the infringement of democratic governance in Rivers State since March 18.
Parenthetically, he, as a democratically elected president, declared a state of emergency in Rivers State for six months on March 18, suspending the duly elected governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and replacing him with a sole administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Etteh Ibas (retd.).
By the act, later stamped by the National Assembly, Rivers State has been governed by an unelected “governor” contrary to the laws.
By September 18, it will be six months since Ibas took over Rivers State by fiat of Tinubu.
As the president leads the country to mark another June 12 anniversary on Thursday, it will be three months next Wednesday, June 18, that Ibas took over as sole administrator of Rivers State, with Fubara, the elected governor, outside the Government House, Port Harcourt.
Will Tinubu end the state of emergency he imposed on Rivers State six days before its complete three months on June 18?
Or will the travesty that he and others fought against continue under his watch?
Only the president knows his unpretentious plan for Rivers State. While there are indications that Fubara is likely to return to his position, it is difficult to predict when this will happen.
New realization
Unlike the days before his suspension, he is now playing the same game with Tinubu.
He has come to understand why his colleague in Delta State, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and why his Akwa Ibom State counterpart, Governor Umo Eno, has also abandoned the PDP for the APC.
Unmistakably, the politics of Rivers State in recent times has transformed into a pragmatic chessboard game, giving vent to various conjectures by keen observers.
Before May 29, the second anniversary of the present elected government officials, many had thought Fubara would be reinstated to his position as governor.
But with May 29 gone, optimists say Tinubu may reinstate the governor on Democracy Day, June 12, ahead of June 18, when it will be a full three months of emergency rule in the state.
London consultation
As a man desperate for a lasting peace and true reconciliation in the face of daunting fiery darts unleashed on him by political opponents, Fubara shocked everyone when he made a trip to the United Kingdom via Germany to meet with Tinubu, who was in London in April.
The private meeting, which lasted more than three hours, centered on restoring peace in Rivers State, the possible return of Fubara, and the entire gamut of the suspended democratic institutions.
Sources confided that the London parley offered the president a first-hand opportunity to observe the chemistry of the suspended governor at close range.
Follow-up session in Lagos
Nigerians were again awed when Fubara met with Tinubu in Lagos State last Tuesday.
The picture of Tinubu and Fubara that hit the media space showed men posed in a manner signifying that something positive may be in the offing.
The Lagos meeting gave credence to Fubara’s earnest appeal-cum-warning to his supporters six days before the Lagos meeting with Tinubu to “thank Mr. President for his timely intervention to salvage the situation…”
The embattled governor also warned his loyalists not to cast aspersions on the president and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, as doing so could jeopardize the ongoing peace process.
One major reason Fubara embarked on the peace voyage to Bourdillion was, it was learnt, to reassure Tinubu of his commitment to work with him.
There were speculations that Fubara may want to take his pound of flesh from Wike by aligning with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for the 2027 presidential race.
More so, with the former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, being touted to lead the pack of the new coalition opposition parties, the fear of losing Fubara was feverish, as Amaechi and Fubara are purportedly secret allies.
To show his level of commitment, Fubara had ordered an immediate end to all forms of protests in Rivers.
He encouraged everyone who sympathised with him to follow his example of leadership by remaining calm during the crisis.
Wike in limbo?
Wike, according to several sources, was not aware of Tinubu and Fubara’s meeting at his private home on Bourdillion Street, Ikoyi, Lagos State. “The governor requested the unexpected visit,” one of the sources told Sunday Vanguard.
Wiked has revealed in a recent media chat that he hadn’t seen the suspended governor since Fubara visited him at his home in Abuja with two prominent South-West politicians.
He had always been adamant that the only way he ever wanted to vent his resentment of his political godson was to have Fubara removed from office. The minister expressed his displeasure with the state of emergency declaration, claiming it gave the struggling governor a haven.
However, the minister has consistently maintained that the governor must act sincerely if he genuinely wishes to bring about peace in Rivers State.
“How can I fight my son?” he asked, reaffirming that Fubara is his son. He claimed to be furious because Fubara volunteered to fight him as a willing tool for political rivals (Wike).
The alleged political adversaries include a former governor, Celestine Omehia; former lawmakers Austin Opara and Lee Maeba; former Transportation Minister, Dr. Abiye Sekibo; and former PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus.
Recall requirements
A reliable source suggested that Tinubu is facing a two-pronged strategy to solidify his power in Rivers, illustrating how the adage “there is no peace without a price” is being applied to politics in the state.
First, if Fubara is a sitting governor, the president can work with him to win a second term in the 2027 presidential election.
The president will have a falling out with his super FCT Minister if this is done.
In a media chat last Monday, Wike had declared that he would personally spearhead Tinubu’s 2027 campaign in Rivers.
In the eyes of many Nigerians, the hypothesis is preemptive.
The source claimed that Fubara switching from the PDP to the APC is the second possibility.
In either case, every rational observer is left vulnerable to Frederic Forsyth’s timeless work, “The Devil’s Alternative.”
As a political move, the president has personally presented the state’s N1.4 trillion budget to the National Assembly, protecting the governor from potential impeachment by Wike’s hated lawmakers in the House of Assembly should they be recalled.
As a result, one of the primary causes of the crisis has been deliberately removed.
Stakeholders hopeful
Prof. Benjamin Okaba, the National President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the umbrella group of the Ijaw nation, told Sunday Vanguard, “All the hypotheses have now been tested, and they are in favor of Fubara.”
Okaba believes that Tinubu has no reason to delay the reinstatement of Fubara as governor.
“Mr. President is a democrat. He was a governor. He, now, knows that the Rivers people love their governor. He also knows that terrible lies were told about the governor to make people despise him and get him out of office through impeachment”, he said.
“The president knows that the suspension is an aberration. He should waste no further time in reversing that decision and returning the governor to power. Posterity is a good judge, and the president will want history to be soft on him.”
Okaba stated categorically that there was nothing wrong with Fubara joining the APC, the president’s party, in a television program, recently.
He is one of the Ijaw leaders who have stood unfalteringly with Fubara in his travails to date.
For him to suggest that the governor could abandon the platform that brought him to power, the PDP, speaks of the subterranean intrigues at play.
“There is nothing wrong with that,” he said while responding to Fubara’s latest meeting with Tinubu in Lagos.
His words, “At this point, we must be realistic, and we must have an understanding of Nigerian politics. We operate a ‘malutocracy.’ We don’t have political parties anymore, but platforms for political associations.
“What we have are just platforms put together for people to transmit or oscillate from one place to another.
“We have state governors and former vice presidential candidates of parties just moving on, to the extent that one of the governors said, ‘If you don’t move with me, I will sack you.’
Opunabo Inkor-Tariah, a former special adviser on media to then-governor Wike, was also hopeful that Fubara’s two private visits to the president were starting to pay off.
“The governor is a reserved individual. He doesn’t talk as much as some politicians do. He has urged his followers to express gratitude to the president and refrain from disparaging the minister”, he said.
“In just two years, Fubara has completed fifty-two projects. No one has ever given him a loan. Before his suspension, he left billions of naira in the coffers. That demonstrates a wise man who is prepared to lift his people out of poverty.
“Tinubu, the president, does not reside in space. He is now aware of the sincerity and truth of a calm man.
“I don’t see anything wrong with bringing the governor back, whether the president reinstates him on June 12 or not. Everything is up in the air; let the president make a decision now since he has learned that the state’s enemies made up these lies to hang the governor”.
Former presidents mount pressure
External forces have, it was learnt, exerted pressure on Tinubu behind the scenes beyond the major gladiators in the crisis.
Among them, according to a source, is former President Goodluck Jonathan, who allegedly engaged in a long telephone conversation with the president.
“That is besides the concern expressed by two other former presidents,” the source revealed.
According to him, the two visits by Fubara came as a result of secret instructions by these forces, and “by the president’s body language, the governor may be returned sooner than the six months earlier announced by the president.
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