THERE are strong indications that the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara may be reinstated before the six months suspension period marked by President Bola Tinubu’s declared state of emergency runs its full stretch. This followed what was considered a fresh truce brokered by the President on Thursday, June 26, 2025. There are however, strong speculations in the media that part of the condition for the truce is for Fubara to commit to not running for a second term in office as governor. Tinubu, it still can be recalled, on 18 March, declared an emergency rule in Rivers State and suspended Governor Fubara, his deputy, and all the Rivers assembly members after what was considered failed previous efforts to broker peace between Fubara and his bitterly estranged political god father, Nyesom Wike.
Both Wike and Fubara as at last week confirmed that the protracted political feud was over, assuring the public that a new era of peace will soon be ushered into the politics of the oil rich state which has recorded sharp acrimony and wanton divisiveness that held back much needed development. Truce is good. Its true value is better appreciated in the face of protracted crisis. Lasting peace is however, a lot better. This however, is only attainable when premised on the principles of justice and fairness, not brigandage and impunity. So far, the prevailing situation in Rivers State is seen by many as manifesting political imbalance and hydra- headed democratic absurdities in utter disregard of the will of the people.
President Bola Tinubu, was said to have on Thursday night, held another reconciliation meeting between Wike and Fubara. That on its own gives some form of legitimacy to the monstrous devises of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, which have rendered Rivers State an ungovernable political space. The Speaker of the suspended Rivers House of Assembly, Rt Hon Martins Amaewhule, and other assembly members were also said to have attended the closed-door meeting.
Wike and Fubara alongside some assembly members later addressed reporters affirming that there are no more acrimonies. Wike, obviously the aggressor in the prolonged feud, said both camps had agreed to end the rift and work in unity.
His words, “We have all agreed to work together with the governor, and the governor also agreed to work together with all of us. We are members of the same political family,”
The FCT minister stressed that although the crisis had lingered for some months, it has now been settled.
Wike added that it is human for people and interest groups to have disagreement, but then you also have a time to settle all such disagreements. His words, “And that has been finally concluded today, and we have come to report to Mr. President, on what we have agreed. So for me, everything is over,”
A previous peace deal between the parties brokered by President Tinubu in 2023, later collapsed. This made the parties to resume hostilities that led to the burning down of public buildings in the state. This time around the parties in the subsisting feud are resolved that they will do everything within their power to make sure that peace is attained and sustained. The feud between Fubara and Wike began less than six months after Fubara assumed office as governor. The issue later escalated to a point where the governor and Wike practically split the state’s legislature into two factions, with 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike and three to Fubara.
The governor had recognised the three-member faction because he believed the 27 had “lost” their seats in the assembly since they had “defected” from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the political platform upon which they had secured their mandate from the people of Rivers State to the All Progressives Congress. It however ,turned out that the February 28 Supreme Court judgment tipped the balance of power in favour of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and his allies.
The court reinstated the pro-Wike faction as the legitimate Rivers assembly, stopped federal allocations to the state, and nullified the local council elections earlier conducted by Fubara administration. On March 14, the Rivers House of Assembly served a notice of alleged misconduct against Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, as a preliminary step for their impeachment. In a notice addressed to the Speaker, Rt Hon Martin Amaewhule, the 26 lawmakers, among other things, accused Fubara of spending Rivers’ funds without approval from the state assembly and appointing people to run the government without the required screening and confirmation. The lawmakers also accused Fubara of hindering or obstructing the assembly from its constitutional functions and seizing salaries, allowances, and funds belonging to lawmakers, the clerk, and the assembly.
They equally accused the Deputy Governor, Mrs Odu, of “conniving and supporting the illegal appointment of persons to occupy offices/positions in the Rivers State Government without allowing for the requirement of screening and confirmation”. The impeachment plot began about the time Fubara removed the elected chairpersons of the local councils in obedience to the Supreme Court rulings. The governor had said he would implement all the Supreme Court’s decisions. In a sweeping and controversial move however
President Tinubu, on 18 March, declared a state of emergency in the state. The president also suspended Governor Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and all the House of Assembly members for an initial six months.
He subsequently appointed Ibok-Ete Ibas as the sole administrator of the oil-rich South-south state. Nigerians have continued to express outrage over the emergency rule in Rivers and the dismantling of the duly elected democratic structures and institutions of government. Democracy remains the best form of government, however, its true and enduring dividends will continue to elude some parts of the world ,who claim to be practicing it and this includes Nigeria for as long as a few strong men continue to Lord with impunity over the aggregate will of the people. Whenever I listen to Nyeson Wike air his views on Nigeria and her evolving democracy I hear less the voice of a democrat. I rather hear the bragging of an overreaching autocrat, an unforgiving and overbearing godfather and vailed despot. It remains rather unfortunate that his actions have robbed the people of Rivers State their deserved peace and development. His resolve appears to be that peace can only return to the state on terms favourable to his political calculation and permutation. Let’s not forget that he had at some point threatened to set fire on any state that supports Governor Fubara in the protracted battle of political supremacy in Rivers State. He talks in the mould of an emperor who personifies the State, his word is law and nobody dares hold or propagate any dissenting view. The enduring democracies of modern societies could not have been built on the political antics, antecedents and dispositions of people like Nyeson Wike with brazen autocratic behavioural tendencies. Today, he is the undisputed god of Rivers State politics and the revered lord of the Federal Capital Territory. It remains a matter of concern that undeveloped democracies like that of Nigeria, prepare for periodic elections same way developed nations build up for war over territorial control.
We still can recall how Wike threatened any PDP governor, who interferes in the political affairs of Rivers State, warning that he would make their states ungovernable. Those were reckless statements devoid of every trace of democratic refinement. Politics in Rivers State has been too mucky since October 2023 for Wike to have any template to present on how any state can grow its democratic structures and institutions over who controls its soul. This surreal situation has spawned tumultuous occurrences, dangers to lives, and, in some instances, deaths that tend to discredit the praxis of democracy.
The chaos that has become of Rivers State and the huge cost on governance is such that in saner climes, the Wikes of this world would have been told to bury their heads in shame rather than periodic face saving television appearances. The Rivers template indeed is what every well-meaning democrat should distance himself from for what it is, desecration of democratic norms and values. Wike has accused the governor of attempting to tamper with the political structure he erected, which brought the governor into office. Again, he said, “You cannot work and people will begin to fight and bring (in) enemies; those who fought you when you were struggling for the person to be in office. Nobody does that.”
After 26 years of unbroken democratic rule, even in the face of its frailties, the ownership of political parties and their structures should not be allowed to turn to fiefdoms, no matter how strong they may be. Democracy is about the people not about the perpetuation of the plutocratic interests of godfathers and political turncoats. The people of Rivers and other parts of the country should rise up in defense of their democratic rights and future. The future of our democracy is to be firmly built on the participation and choice of the people rather than the wims and caprices of insatiable godfathers.
Truce is better than crisis but it must be premised on justice and equity so that we don’t end up legitimating undemocratic precedents.
