- Impeachment push ignites fresh feud as Assembly slips from his grip
- Fubara may become a ‘political orphan’ if… – Analysts
The coordinated legal onslaught scoring the administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State may force him to stand down after his first term and not to present himself for re-election in 2027.
Also, the eternal crisis pervading the political space in the state may likely cost the people of the state good governance if the political gladiators refuse to sheathe their swords, unite and work for the development of the state; those who are in the know of the Rivers politics have told The Point.
Following the verdicts of the Supreme Court to halt federal allocations to the state as well as insisting that the subsisting decision of the trial court and the Court of Appeal was that the 27 lawmakers of the State Assembly deemed to have defected from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress were still members of the Assembly, the political analysts predicted possibility of the reinstated lawmakers to embark on impeachment move against Governor Fubara when they resume sitting.
The Point gathered that the greatest fear in the Fubara camp is that with the Supreme Court matter done and dusted, many think pro-Wike groups would not hesitate to implement their initial plan to impeach Fubara.
Several reliable sources confirmed this fear. They hinted that the process is not planned to take a long time to accomplish. Accordingly, the 27-assembly lawmakers, who are now likely to carry out the dictates of their master, may call for the head of the Attorney General after “the suspension of the three-man Victor Oko-Jumbo Assembly.
Insiders informed The Point of serious plots by the angry 27 lawmakers who are loyalists of the immediate past governor of the state and incumbent Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nyesom Wike to oust Governor Fubara to prepare grounds for Wike to take total control of the state.
“There is no ambiguity in that seizure of allocation because the only condition attached to it is just for Fubara to work with the 27-member House of Assembly and if by Monday (today), if Fubara could write to them and re-present the 2025 budget to them, this matter is ended. That order will be vacated immediately.”
The impeachment drum which is now becoming loud has already been hunted by Wike and sources have hinted that the Minister had already bought the support of the 27 lawmakers and that they were neck deep in the plot.
It was learnt that Governor Fubara and his camp of the state parliament have been thrown into a dilemma since the apex court judgment that compelled him to recognise the 27 lawmakers whom he had already had a face-off with in a bid to control the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The Supreme Court went further to declare as null and void as well as illegal, the local government election conducted by the state government, ruling that it was not in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
Reacting, however, the state government called for calm, reminding the people that the case of the membership of the defected lawmakers was still pending at a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, which had adjourned hearing on the matter to April 30, 2025, adding that they were studying the decision of the apex court to understand the implication of the judgment.
In their separate reactions, analysts expressed worry that the failure of Governor Fubara to follow the path of rule of law may stoke a crisis in the state which may make the people vulnerable to suffering.
They advised Fubara to abide fully by the verdict of the Supreme even while waiting for the outcome of the Federal High Court on the alleged detection of the 27 lawmakers on the side of Wike.
A renowned political commentator in Rivers State, Jackson-Lekan Ojo opined that for the sake of the people of the state, Fubara has to do the needful by representing the 2025 budget before the full parliament.
Arguing that impeachment hammer dangles on the governor following threat and obvious moves by Wike to edge Fubara out, Ojo, notwithstanding, urged the governor to abide by the rule of law for the sake of peace in the state.
Ojo noted that the only way the governor could escape losing federal allocations to Rivers is for him to appear before the parliament with his administration’s budget.
“There is no ambiguity in that seizure of allocation because the only condition attached to it is just for Fubara to work with the 27-member House of Assembly and if by Monday (today), if Fubara could write to them and re-present the 2025 budget to them, this matter is ended. That order will be vacated immediately.
“But, in a situation whereby these lawmakers have been recognised by the Supreme Court, if Sim Fubara refuses to do the needful now, because there is no democracy in the world where the executive would work without the legislative arm. If Sim Fubara refuses the order of the Supreme Court now, I think it is an impeachable offence of which these lawmakers will swiftly remove him.
“At the same time, sometime ago, the people of Niger Delta said if there is any court pronouncement that ceases the allocation, they will burn down the Niger Delta. The Court of Appeal pronounced it, it lasted for some time, Federal High Court in Abuja pronounced it, it lasted for some time, and nobody burnt down anywhere. So, here, at the end of the day, the people of Rivers State would not be the one to suffer, when they know that the source of the suffering is the disobedience of the Supreme Court by the governor, everybody will rise up against the governor. There is no way a whole society will be suffering the disobedience of a particular man,” he posited.
He noted that the refusal of Fubara to abide by the verdict of the court may be an invitation to unrest in the state.
“Whether you like it or not, Wike is still very relevant in Rivers State. Wike will just mobilise, tell his people to come out and people will come out because they know it is the disobedience of a man that is capable of causing them suffering. So, the condition is not too ambiguous. If by Monday (today), if Fubara communicates to the Rivers State House of Assembly according to the instructions of the Supreme Court, they will vacate the order immediately,” the analyst remarked.
Ojo advised Fubara to engineer a solid “private relationship” with the 27 lawmakers.
“In this case, if they (Fubara and 27 lawmakers) have not been working together, it is an issue of litigation, by the time they begin to work together now, there will be an official relationship. But, if there is an official relationship and no personal relationship, at the end of the day, a personal relationship that is not there will become a problem and the next thing will be an impeachment move.
“So, to me, impeachment is dangling around the governor and that is the bus-stop Wike wants to drive to.
“I will advise Fubara to first of all, obey the instruction of the Supreme Court, to establish an official working relationship with these lawmakers and at the same time, whatever it will cost him to operate with them, to have a personal relationship, because personal relationship will influence positively than official relationship. If there is no personal relationship, it will adversely affect their official relationship. At the end of the day, the governor will not have power over the legislature, the legislature will have oversight function and it is a power over the governor. The governor cannot impeach them, they can impeach the governor. So, it is the governor that needs to make peace with them,” Ojo emphasised.
He harped on reconciliation, saying Wike may not relent until he sees Fubara removed.
“I think Wike has been pursuing it legally before, though, through proxies and that was what led to the ruling of the Supreme Court. And I think, if the governor and the legislature begin to work officially, a lot of opinions will prevail on Wike. Even if Wike is not ready to settle with him, he will not have any other choice than to leave him (Fubara) and let him work,” he added.
X-raying the chances of Fubara for a second term should he escape impeachment, Ojo described the governor as a political orphan who appears not to have a formidable political party he is controlling.
“Second term for Fubara is in the hands of the people of Rivers now. But, the question begging for an answer is on which platform will Fubara run for a second term? Because the platform of APP he built has been crumbled by the Supreme Court judgement. The platform of APP he built by sponsoring the chairmen and councillors of local government from the platform of APP, the Supreme Court has nullified that election. There is no local government again. That was the structure we were thinking he could build and possibly make use of it in the future. That platform has been crumbled already,” he pointed out.
Disclosing that Wike controls both APC and PDP in Rivers, he said it might be possible for the governor to be given the party ticket ahead of the 2027 governorship election in the state.
“As you can see, Wike is in charge of APC in Rivers State, Wike is in charge of PDP in Rivers State and those are the two formidable platforms that the governor may want to oil, maintain and possibly use in 2027. Apart from those two platforms, let us not deceive ourselves, we were looking at possibly if the local government chairmen and councillors could work on the platform of APP, maybe he could use that platform. Segun Mimiko did it in Ondo State when he lost on the platform of PDP, what did he do? He quickly jumped to the platform of the Labour Party. Peter Obi did the same thing, when he left PDP; he jumped to the platform of the relatively unknown Labour Party. But, because of his own personal popularity and political sagacity, he was able to put himself up.
“But, in this case, the platform of APP that has already secured the grassroots politicking in Rivers State being the chairmen and councillors in local government has crumbled now. The chairmen and councilors are gone. Where do you think Fubara will start?” Ojo rhetorically asked.
The President of Ijaw National Congress, Professor Benjamin Okaba, reacting to the apex court’s judgment, called for calm, saying the judgment was not the end of the matter.
“We are still studying the implications of the judgment. When we discovered that the issue of defection was not mentioned by the Supreme Court, it left us confused. For now, we want everybody to be at peace and go about their normal responsibilities,” Okaba said.
He noted that, as a pressure group, INC will continue to work within the confines of the law of the land. But “if injustice is seen to have taken an upper hand, we then will decide on what to do next.”
Also, a chieftain of pan-Niger Delta Elders Forum, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, said whatever must have been the outcome of the judgment “is not strange to us.”
He alleged that before now, Wike had been boasting that “the Supreme Court was in his pocket.”
Sara-Igbe said he was waiting to see how the Supreme Court would reverse itself by saying that Martin Amaewhule and the 26 other lawmakers who defected to the APC are members of the Assembly.
According to him, the suspension of the state’s allocation is a call for violence “so that they will declare a state of emergency in Rivers State. To suspend the revenue of a federating unit means that they are calling for a crisis, we pray this does not truncate our democracy.”
Of the options open to the embattled governor, Sara-Igbe believes that as a strategist, Fubara will wait for the final determination of the defection matter.
“Fubara believes in God. And God will make his enemies fools. If Amaewhule and his co-travellers go ahead to impeach the governor, there will be resistance,” he said.
Speaking on the options, Okaba stated that “Fubara is a strategist. His options will depend on the interpretation of the judgment. There is no cause to panic. We have to wait and get the interpretation of the judgment.”
Also speaking, a chieftain of APC in Rivers State, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said the only option for Fubara “is prayer.”
According to him, “enemies of the state have taken over; the only thing left for the governor is to pray for God’s intervention.
Another possible option Fubara may undertake to save his neck from the political guillotine, according to a top Ogoni politician who prefers anonymity, is to decamp to the APC.
“Yes, there are various options open to him. One of them is a political solution to the crisis.
In doing that, he would be given conditions to fulfill. One of them is to decamp to the APC to guarantee President Tinubu victory in 2027,” the source said.
Fubara had already created what could be a formidable platform for his political future when he directed all the 23 local government chairmen to contest the October 5, 2024 council election on the platform of the Actions Peoples Party.
It was gathered that despite the turn of events, Fubara appears unruffled.
A credible source close to the state government told THE POINT that “the governor was full of life when we spoke on phone. I called him to encourage him to stay strong. He told me it is not over yet.”
Another source argued that every impeachment has its own process.
“Before things are concluded to get the governor out of the way, the defection case must have been concluded. That is the way he could wriggle himself out of the shame of possible impeachment,” he said.
Also speaking, another political analyst, Nurudeen Kareem explained that the people of Rivers State should not be made to suffer for the errors of the political gladiators.
Giving his take on the Supreme Court verdict, Kareem stated that the ruling is clear and there is no ambiguity. He warned the governor and other parties against flouting the court judgement as it might precipitate a crisis in the oil-rich state.
“My Lords have given their verdict and it is very clear. We still have to hold on to the judiciary as our last resort. All parties in Rivers State should always remember that wherever two elephants fight, the grass always suffers it. And, the grass in this case is the good people of Rivers State. No state wants to be denied what constitutionally belongs to it and if Governor Fubara wants his people to enjoy their rights, he should abide by the rule of law,” he said.
A political expert, Omotoso Junior, said that both Wike and Fubara should find a common ground in the interest of the people of the state, saying, “If the interests of both individuals are people-focused, then, they should not set Rivers on fire.”
“Unless Fubara is in a good relationship with the Chief Judge, I see these 27 lawmakers starting the impeachment move against him again once they resume sitting. He may not be around to witness the case of the Federal High Court on the defection of the legislators if he is not in good rapport with the Chief Judge of Rivers State that will be asked to constitute the panel of his impeachment,” a keen political observer in Rivers, Dennis Ikwene argued.
Supreme Court ruling plot to weaken Fubara, favour APC — Timi Frank
However, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Timi Frank, has criticised the recent Supreme Court ruling that ordered the suspension of federal allocations to local governments in Rivers State.
Frank described the judgment as a calculated move to destabilise Governor Fubara’s administration and pave the way for the APC to take control of the state.
In a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, Frank labeled the ruling as a “gross miscarriage of justice” and accused the judiciary of being compromised.
“By giving order to withhold the local government allocation to Rivers State is to weaken and undermine the Siminalayi Fubara’s administration and use the order of court to starve the people of Rivers State that voted Fubara to power.”
He called on Nigerians and the international community to hold President Bola Tinubu and Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, responsible for any unrest that may result from the decision.
Frank denounced the ruling as “the most fraudulent judgment ever delivered in Nigeria’s history,” arguing that it was not based on legal merit but rather on political interests.
“How can the Supreme Court give this kind of anti-truth, anti-God, inhuman, anti-justice, and compromised judgment that is obviously meant to give the opposition APC the leeway to take over Rivers State?” he questioned.
The political activist, who also serves as the United Liberation Movement for West Papua Ambassador to East Africa and the Middle East, insisted that the 27 lawmakers at the center of the crisis had illegally defected from the PDP to the APC and no longer had legitimate authority in the state legislature.
According to Frank, the court’s decision to suspend local government allocations is a deliberate attempt to weaken Fubara’s administration by financially starving the state.
He claimed that the APC-led Federal Government was using the judiciary to advance its political agenda in Rivers State.
“We make bold to say that everybody knows that the suspended 27 lawmakers from River State illegally defected from PDP to APC, and despite this kangaroo judgment, they are no more members of the Rivers State House of Assembly,” he alleged.
“By giving order to withhold the local government allocation to Rivers State is to weaken and undermine the Siminalayi Fubara’s administration and use the order of court to starve the people of Rivers State that voted Fubara to power.”
He further criticised Tinubu for allegedly ignoring the judicial overreach and failing to intervene despite his proclaimed commitment to democracy.
Frank accused the administration of empowering the suspended lawmakers to push for Fubara’s impeachment in a bid to seize control of the state government.
Despite the legal and political crisis, Frank urged Rivers residents to remain resolute in their support for Fubara.
He called on them to mobilize and resist any attempts to subvert democracy in the state, stressing that the governor was fighting to protect Rivers’ resources and uphold constitutional governance.
All analysts unanimously agreed that the next few days will be very interesting as stakeholders watch and see how the plots aimed at removing the governor will play out.
