- Why Tinubu Can’t Reinstate 27 Rivers Lawmakers That Defected To APC— Falana
- Elder Statesman, Clark Kicks, Says Fubara Was Ambushed, Intimidated
- Fubara Breaks Silence, Says No Price Too Big For Peace
It appears there is no end in sight to the crisis rocking the oil-rich South-South state of Rivers as fresh indications have emerged that the recently brokered peace by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may not last after all.
Already, dissenting voices and grumblings have emerged from different quarters kicking against the so-called “peace”.
Earlier, The Matrix had reported that elder Statesmen and leader of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Pa Edwin Clark had kicked against the alleged resolution reached after a peace meeting by President Tinubu.
READ ALSO: Wike, Fubara Face-Off Continues
Rivers State has been engulfed in a political crisis for a few months due to an ongoing impasse between a godfather and his political godson.
The crisis escalated last week when 27 lawmakers – originally elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – defected to the All-Progressives Congress (APC) in a show of power against the governor, but the leader of another group in the Assembly Edison Ehie declared their seats vacant in the wake of the defection.
READ ALSO: Truce At Last As Wike,Fubara Meet With Tinubu
To assert authority, Fubara later demolished the Assembly complex, saying the structure which was gutted by fire two months ago was unfit.
He, thereafter, presented the 2024 budget to the Ehie-led group at the Government House in Port Harcourt after a court had barred the Martins Amaewhule-led group who are perceived allies of Wike from using the assembly and signed the budget, a day later.
Several stakeholders have called on President Tinubu to wade into the ongoing crisis and resolve it which the president had now listened to.
READ ALSO: Elders of Rivers State Frown at Moves to Impeach Fubara, want Tinubu to Intervene.
The President and some elder statesmen had intervened in the crisis earlier in October but it degenerated into a full-blown face-off.
However, at the meeting with President Tinubu at the Aso Villa in Abuja, on Monday, the warring parties finally agreed to sheathe their swords.
After Monday’s meeting, the President directed that the warring parties withdraw all matters instituted in the courts by Fubara, and his team, and that the leadership of Martin Amaewhule in the Rivers State House of Assembly be recognised, and not that of Edison Ehie.
Amaewhule and his 26 allies were also said to have been reinstated in the House following the presidential directive.
Reacting to this, Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in a statement on Tuesday stated that presidential interventions must always be grounded in the provisions of the constitution.
“With respect, the presidential reinstatement of the 27 cross carpeting members of the Rivers State House of Assembly by the Presidency is alien to the Constitution in every material particular,” Falana said.
Continuing, Falana said, “The seats of the cross-carpeting members have been declared vacant by the Speaker known to law. To that extent, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is mandatorily required to conduct the by-election once the ex parte order issued by the Federal High Court last Friday is quashed.”
The senior lawyer said the cross-carpeting legislator can only retain their seats if they can prove that the political party that sponsored them is divided into two or more factions.
“Even if all the cases in the Rivers State High Court and the Federal High Court are withdrawn in line with the advice of the President, it is submitted that all actions taken by the Speaker (Ehie) recognised by the Rivers State High Court, remain valid, including his pronouncement on the vacant seats of the 27 cross carpeting members of the House.
“In other words, only a court of law is constitutionally competent to set aside the pronouncement of the Speaker which is anchored on section 109 of the Constitution. Furthermore, as the Speaker (Ehie) has not been removed by the required number of legislators, a presidential directive cannot remove him,” Falana stated.
The senior lawyer further asked INEC to conduct a by-election to fill the 27 vacant seats, adding that “the remaining members of the House are competent to conduct legislative business except the impeachment of the governor which can only be carried out by the two thirds of the entire members of the House”.
Not that alone, Clark in a statement on Tuesday also threatened lawsuit over the peace deal describing it as “baffling, appalling and unacceptable” to the people, especially, the Ijaw ethnic nationality.
Hear him, “From the terms of settlement, it is obvious that President Tinubu sees his role as a mediator, to once again, show gratitude to the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), for ‘delivering’ Rivers State to him during the past Presidential elections, having first of gratified him by making him the Minister of FCT.”
“The eight resolutions reached, are the most unconstitutional, absurd and obnoxious resolutions at settling feuding parties that I have ever witnessed in my life.”
The nonagenarian said Fubara was “ambushed and intimidated into submission”.
“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.”
“Like I said, we will go to go court to resist this oppressive action using all available constitutional and legal means. It is on this note I wish to appeal to the youths who are aggrieved, to remain calm, as we will use legal means to dethrone this hydra headed monster, called oppression,” Clark said.
Meanwhile, the man at the center of the whole brouhaha has finally broken his silence since the peace deal was brokered on Monday.
Speaking at a special convocation ceremony at the Pamo University of Medical Sciences, he promised to abide by the truce brokered by President Bola Tinubu.
“Let me say this to my dear state.”
“I call you my dear state because the support you have shown to me within this period is unmeasurable,” an emotional Fubara said.
“Ordinarily, I don’t even know them or have any contact with them but they stood by me.”
“There is no amount that is too big to pay for peace.”
“I will continue to pay it.”
