The political camp of the Rivers state Governor, Siminalayi Fubara was again pushed into a deeper trench by the decision of the state House of Assembly to probe the alleged age falsification of the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Simeon Amadi.
At its 135th legislative sitting, the House resolved to write to the Department of the State Service, DSS, to investigate the CJ following allegations against him by the Leader of the House, Hon Major Jack.
The House agreed that falsification of age was a “serious offence” but the allegation must be confirmed and doing so, the CJ has to be thoroughly investigated to establish the authenticity of the allegation.
Responding to this development, the Speaker, Rt. Hon Martins Amaewhule said by section 128 of the constitution, the House is empowered to investigate the allegation but quickly accused Governor Fubara of barring heads of ministries, departments and agencies from appearing before the House.
Remember that Justice Amadi was screened to become the Chief Judge of the state about three years when Wike was a governor. Unconfirmed report has it that Amadi, who hails from the same Ikwerre ethnic nationality with Wike, turned down alleged N5 billion gratification and tastefully furnished houses in London and America to ditch the governor and clear the grounds for his eventual impeachment.
Commenting on the CJ’s ordeal, Hon Ogbonna Nwuke, former House of Representatives member in the 7th National Assembly said the action of the Assembly members was just to intimidate the Chief Judge in order to get at the governor.
“The process of impeaching the governor is not easy. That is why they are intimidating the loyalists of the governor just to create a state of emergency, at most”.
Giving the quick succession at which events happened in the state in the course of the week barely few hours after the Minister of the federal capital territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike on Wednesday publicly declared that the state Governor, Siminalayi Fubara could be impeached by the House of Assembly and “heaven will not fall”, it shows that there is more in the offing.
The minister’s audacity came just a day after a crucial meeting between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the delegation of the pan Niger Delta Elders Forum, PANDEF, in Abuja wherein the latter was asked to go back home and prevail on the embattled Governor to “obey the rule of law”, in other words, the Supreme Court judgment.
Meanwhile, Wike’s impeachment threat to Fubara and his vituperations on the Ijaw ethnic nationality has since attracted the ire of the Supreme Egbesu Assembly, SEA, a religious deity of the Ijaws and other revered topnotch organizations such as the Ijaw national Congress, INC and its youth wing, Ijaw Youth Council, IYC.
Recall that in the early years of militancy in the Niger Delta with Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states being the hotbed of the crisis, the Egbesu god was said to have been invoked to wade off the incursion of the federal troops into the flashpoints of the crisis.
Leader of the Supreme Egbesu Assembly, SEA, an ancestral religious institution of the Ijaw people, Sergeant Werinipre Digifa, told Saturday Vanguard on phone that the Ijaw people would “shock” President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the appropriate time in the event that the Governor of Rivers state, Siminalayi Fubara is impeached.
Digifa hit back at the President who he said lacks the capacity to tame Wike. “Tinubu should be held responsible for the recklessness and arrogance Wike is exhibiting against the Ijaw nation.
“This is why I say that Nigeria is a banana republic. Somebody has turned the judiciary to his personal estate. He manipulates the judiciary the way he wants it just to suit his desire. If they impeach Fubara, we will not go into violence because Ijaw people don’t believe in violence. We will take everything in good faith. But we will shock them”.
The head of the Egbesu Assembly added that ”we are keenly watching the ongoing political trend which is pure harassment and the intimidation of the Governor of Rivers state. We are listening to the insults, the unguarded utterances and the abuse that is being heaped on the Ijaw ethnic nationality by Hon Wike.
”The Niger Delta is a community and when controversies arise in a community, reasonable people don’t jump in to talk. There is an African adage which says ‘two mad people never behave madly at the same time.’
“We are not sleeping, neither are we cowards. But note that we have always won our just battles and this will be no exception. This crass arrogance being displayed by Wike was avoidable”.
Digifa expressed disappointment that President Tinubu has allowed the crisis to fester, saying ”I had earlier thought that he had the capacity to rule Nigeria as a president, but from the showings on ground, it is evident that we had a misplaced value on President Tinubu’s leadership capacity.”
He warned President Tinubu that “by the time Wike finishes with you, the Yoruba nation would have incurred the anger of the Ijaw man. The spirits that have protected the Ijaw Nation over the years will bring the wrath on the Yoruba to teach them a lesson that could be worse than what has happened to those who attempted to humiliate us”.
INC’s position on Wike’s bluster to oust Fubara from power is that people should look at issues from the broader perspective and not through the prism of sectarian sentiment.
Professor Benjamin Okaba, President of INC, said Wike’s so called insult on Ijaws smacks off the smart game of giving it an ethnic coloration to get the sympathy of other ethnic groups and distract their attention from the sympathy they have for governor Fubara.
“When the Ijaws led the struggle for the creation of Rivers state, where were Wike’s ancestors? He quipped. “You don’t flirt after a hyena. Wike will regret, mark my words, and become a political orphan. When an empire rises to its peak, another empire will rise. We are heading towards the Marxian synthesis as the political denouement is already unfolding ahead of 2027.
“Wike’s bravado is clearly stimulated by nothing else but the tacit support and encouragement from the Presidency. Remove Wike from Power, he will automatically transform into an empty and most vulnerable entity in Nigerian political history”, he said.
In its declaration after a zonal emergency meeting, the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Eastern Zone put the federal government on notice that it will stoutly resist every attempt by the planners to impeach Governor Fubara, “until he has served out his two tenures of eight years as his predecessors did, by any means necessary”.
The Ijaw youths announced that the planners of the Governor’s impeachment, “if they do not desist from their evil plot, should be ready to bear the consequences of their actions in the event of the breakdown of law and order in the State”.
Also, a statement from the Ijaw Matters viewpoint said the Ijaw Nation has been patient for too long, saying “our patience is not weakness. Nyesom Wike, in his ……arrogance, has crossed every line of decency and respect. His continued insults against the Ijaw people will not go unanswered”.
It said it was a disgrace that a man who once begged for the support of Ijaw leaders and communities now dares to spit on the same people who made him. “We will not forget. We will not forgive. And when the time comes, Wike will beg, he will crawl before the Ijaw Nation seeking mercy, but he will find none”.
The group vowed that “Wike will pay for every insult, every slight, and every word of disrespect. The day of reckoning is closer than he thinks”.
We’re 4th largest ethnic group in Nigeria, INC tells Wike
The Ijaw National Congress, INC has faulted the comment from minister of the federal capital territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike that the Ijaws were the minority of the minorities in the Niger Delta.
INC said given Wike’s eight-year tenure as Governor of Rivers State, “we expected a more informed understanding of the state’s history”.
The Ijaw group said that Wike’s assertion that the Ijaws were a minority of minorities betrays a lack of “intellectual depth. For the record, the Ijaws are the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, with over 40 million people, and the oldest tribe in Nigeria, as documented in history. They are the largest ethnic group in Rivers State, with eight local government areas, and also not a minority in Delta”.
A statement signed and released by Engr Ezonebi Oyakemeagbegha, National Publicity Secretary of INC in Port Harcourt on Friday said “we suspect that Wike’s comments were made under the influence of misinformation and otherwise. The Ijaws have consistently advocated for fairness and equity in the Niger Delta region and the South-South, and we will not be swayed by individual attempts to provoke us”.
It said that Wike’s intention to create divisions between the Ijaws and other ethnic nationalities has failed, noting that the INC was aware of his plan to instigate crisis in the Niger Delta region, but “we will continue to maintain peace and stability”.
The Ijaw group however called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to caution Wike and redirect his focus to his ministerial duties, assuring that the INC remains committed to preserving the harmony enjoyed by all in the Niger Delta region.
