By Charles Anike
The crisis currently going on between the governor of Rivers State, Sim Fubara, and former governor of Rivers State and current minister of the FCT, Mr Nysom Wike, has continued to make headlines, even after the seemingly celebrated Aso Rock intervention.
About a month ago, Fubara had fallen out with his godfather, that had resulted in threats of his impeachment, and the decamping of 27 members of the State House of Assembly loyal to Wike. Fubara, at the onset, had shown a little courage, when in the midst of the decampment of the 27 members, he still went ahead to present his 2024 budget to the remaining members of the State Assembly and subsequently signed the budget into law before the Aso Rock coup.
However, the continued threat of impeachment of the governor may have overwhelmed him, hence he naively signed 8 points terms of settlement designed by the Aso Rock cabals to completely incapacitate and make governor Fubara a mere puppet in the hands of his godfather and Aso Rock sponsors.
The question is, apart from impeachment threats, what else was at stake that would have warranted governor Fubara to hastily sign such a sensitive agreement?
Also one may also be tempted to ask, if Fubara is not another Ijaw man in Goodluck Jonathan, who as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who in spite of spending six years in office, did not still understand the enormous powers that surrounded the office of the President of Nigeria?
Jonathan consistently and constantly but erroneously declared that his political ambition was not worth a drop of the blood of any Nigerian. That was an assertion he continued to declare and uphold, even in the face of obvious infringements and usurping of his presidential powers by some power mongers within his party (PDP).
Some of them later decamped to form the alliance that birthed the All Progressives Congress. Some others remained in the party as moles and were seen openly working against the winning chances of President Jonathan, just like what we saw Wike do during the 2023 presidential election and, of course, it was Mr Karma that visited Atiku.
The national chairman of the then ruling party, the purported game changer who changed the game against his party, was foremost among the moles in the ruling party, and President still was claiming that his political ambition did not worth the blood of any Nigerian.
Then the big question again is: if all the scenarios were to be properly interrogated, did Jonathan’s surrender of power help Nigerians or worsen the situation of an average Nigerian? Especially in averting the shedding of the blood of innocent Nigerians? The answer is obvious. More Nigerians were killed under Buhari than Jonathan ignorantlly wanted to prevent by fearfully surrendering powers entrusted on him by the Nigerian people, as a result of the empty threats of the then opposition.
Insecurity under Buhari and indeed the APC has worsened and has been weaponized across the country and still spreading. Kidnapping is now the new crude oil business of the rich and the ruling class in Nigeria. Obviously Jonathan’s supposed sacrifice was a monumental error, unnecessary and colossal waste to Nigerians.
Therefore, we pray and hope that the Rivers State governor, Sim Fubara, is not dangerously toeing the same route with his “No price for peace will be too much” stand. Let the governor not travel the same route that Jonathan travelled that caused and still causing Nigerians more harm than good. The ancient Roman dictum states that whoever wants peace must prepare for war.
Our beloved Ijaw elders, leaders and youths must not allow the governor to continue this journey likely to lead him to a political suicide, because he should be made to understand that he’s not dealing with people that have conscience but political vultures.
Gov Fubara’s kinsmen must quickly rally round him to interpret and re-interpret to him the magnitude and enormous powers he is wielding as the governor of a whole Rivers State. It should be re-echoed in the ears of Gov Fubara that he is not dealing with honest men therefore the purported peace agreement should be null and void. He should also understand that the APC and their president are all out for state capture, as there are already plotting towards 2027. Sim Fubara must learn very fast and from the experiences of governors and ex-governors who had it rough with their godfathers and employ the strategies that gave them victories. Examples are former governors Godwin Obaseki vs Oshiomole, T.A Orji vs Orji Uzor Kalu, Sullivan Chime vs Chimaroke Nnamani, among others. He should never condone moles in his government or else.
Gov Fubara must understand that Rivers State is very strategic to be allowed or create an opportunity for political vampires and vultures in APC to have access to plunder. The governor must take advantage of the overwhelming support of the Rivers people and resist any empty threats by the APC and their allies who obviously have lost ground without knowing.
Hon Charles Anike is National President,
Eastern Union.
