Things would not have come to a head, if the gladiators had listened to the voice of reason. Both sides are to blame, though one of them will take a large chunk of it. In the past 15 months, Rivers State have been enmeshed in a crisis of immense magnitude. The President moved in early to resolve the problem, but those benefiting from the crisis did not want it settled.
Now, with Tuesday’s declaration of a state of emergency in the state, these same people, some activists and civil society groups are questioning the rationale for the President’s action. Their argument is that he should not have suspended the democratic institutions in the state after invoking Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution on the state of emergency. If I may ask: what democratic institutions? The same ones that the Supreme Court blasted the now suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara for “collapsing”.
As the Supreme Court held in its February 28 judgment: the state no longer had a government in place after Fubara demolished the House of Assembly complex on December 14, 2023, and rendered the Martin Amaewhule-led 27 lawmakers ineffective and ineffectual because of his fear of being impeached. Fubara then resorted to dealing with the minority five members then led by Edison Ehie, who resigned to become his chief of staff.
He subsequently became chummy with the rump of three or four lawmakers led by Victor Oko-Jumbo, which the three layers of the High, Appeal and Supreme Courts declared as illegally constituted since it meant only 12.5% of the people had a voice in a house of 32 members. The apex court was unequivocal in condemning the governor who it described as a despot.
President Tinubu alluded to the apex court’s position while imposing emergency rule on the state. He said he could not in good conscience as President watch and allow things to degenerate. Since the apex court’s verdict, various Ijaw groups have been threatening ‘fire and brimstone’ if the assembly, which on Monday, served Fubara and his deputy Ngozi Odu a notice of gross misconduct impeaches him.
Impeachment is not an offence. It is a constitutional provision which the lawmakers, if they have the number and follow strictly the procedure for removal, can use to whip a governor into line. Barely 24 hours after the notice was issued, some militants blew up oil pipelines in parts of Rivers, despite knowing full well the consequences of their actions. The resort to violence by militants whenever there are issues like this did not start today. It is their way of blackmailing the nation to yield to their demands whether genuine or not.
Our oil production took a nosedive a few years ago because of such activities as well as the large scale theft of crude. Of recent, things have been looking up for Nigeria as oil production took a huge leap crossing over 1.8 million barrels per day. The militants’ irrational and unpatriotic actions may take us back and down the economic slope if they are not stopped forthwith. The declaration of a state of emergency may be a better way of doing that since Fubara seems to be at peace with what is happening.
Why will he not? I recall what he told a gathering at a commissioning ceremony about 17 days ago. “To our youths, be strong. Don’t be perturbed. At the right time you will get instructions”, he said on the occasion. I warned on this page 14 days ago that I hoped he was not planning something sinister. So, why is the President being crucified for imposing emergency rule on Rivers when the governor is only pretending to be interested in peace, but doing something else behind the scenes.
Till his suspension from office on Tuesday, Fubara kept his executive council (EXCO) comprising mainly commissioners confirmed by the illegal Oko-Jumbo-led lawmakers, in defiance of the apex court’s decision which he said he would implement after receiving the certified true copy (CTC). He got the CTC long ago and left his commissioners intact. The opposition will rave and rant – in their usual style. Legal experts will also attempt to pull the wool over the people’s eyes on this matter.
The thing is emergency rule is an aberration. This is why it is so named. When it is in place, democracy is suspended. It is painful but that is the plain truth. It is a weapon of last resort used in a democratic setting when all else has failed. Section 305 states the conditions under which it can be imposed and these were well spelt out in the President’s broadcast on Tuesday night.
But those who want the status quo to remain are bickering. Can democratic institutions and the wielder of emergency legal powers exist side by side? It is trite that two captains cannot man a ship. How then can a governor and a sole administrator be in charge of a state under emergency rule? Let us leave politics aside and face reality. There would have been no need for this emergency if the gladiators had given a thought to the consequences of their actions.
The framers of the Constitution did not expressly state in Section 305 that the governor and members of a House of Assembly should be suspended after the imposition of a state of emergency because there cannot be democracy under emergency rule. They are strange bedfellows. Democracy automatically gives way where there is a state of emergency.
This is why I agree with the 2013 submissions of renowned law teacher Prof Akin Oyebode and the late constitutional lawyer Fred Agbaje in their reactions to former President Jonathan’s imposition of emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states then. “You cannot declare emergency rule and leave the status quo”, Oyebode said, adding: “emergency rule warrants extraordinary measures which nullify the maintenance of the status quo”.
To Agbaje, “what the president (Jonathan) has done is to stand the Constitution on its head, by purporting to declare a state of emergency, and at the same time allowing the state legislature to function. His action is constitutionally heretical and anathema”.
Instead of throwing tantrums, those who disagree with what President Tinubu has done in Rivers can explore the legal option. The outcome of their lawsuit will help to enrich our constitutional jurisprudence.
