President Tinubu Has Treated Rivers People With Contempt, But We Shall Fight – Dr Nwibubasa

By Gideon Njoku

Dr Lelonu Nwibubasa, a former Rivers State  Commissioner for Empowerment and Employment Generation, has said that President Bola Tinubu of treating Rivers State and its people with contempt.

The former Commissioner came to this conclusion after the President submitted the name of an Akwa Ibom State indigene as the Chairman of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC to the Senate for clearance.

Nwibubasa who spoke on Arise Television Friday morning, accused President Tinubu of “disrespecting and relegating the people the State to the background.” The limit, he posited, is the unprecedented appointment  of a non-Rivers indigene, Dr Michael Ekpai Odey, as RSIEC Chairman. By doing that, Nwibubasa said Tinubu Tinubu has set a terrible precedent. Dr Odey, instructively, is from the same State, Akwa Ibom as the Sole Administrator of the State, retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas.

Akwa Ibom State President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio on Thursday, read the communication from Tinubu on seven nominees to be screened to occupy the positions of chairman and members of RSIEC. They are:  Dr. Michael Ekpai Odey (Chairman), Mr. Lezaasi Lenee Torbira, Professor (Dr.) Arthur Nwafor, Professor Godfrey Woke Mbudiogha, Professor (Dame) Joyce Akaniwor, Dr. (Mrs.) Olive A. Bruce and Professor Chidi Halliday.

But  speaking on Arise Television Friday,

Nwibubasa compared the Chairman’s appointment to adding salt to injury. He accused Tibubu of continual dismantling of government and political structures of Rivers people and putting strangers in their place:

His words: “I am as surprised as you are that the State of Emergency that was declared against all known constitutional provision up to this day, three months after, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, despite wide condemnations, appeals and criticism from well meaning Nigerians, has not considered that he should rescind that very unconstitutional decision.

“Rather, what we see, like you have said, is to add salt to injury by continually depleting all known government and political structures of Rivers people and replacing same with aliens.

“I want to ask, where in Nigeria have we had an Independent Electoral Commission of a State headed by someone from another State? This is a terrible precedent.

“And so Nigerians shall also be asking if we can get Chairman of Electoral commis3sions from other countries like Ghana and those doing well in their democracy to come and head that of Nigeria, since Rivers State has become the space where we will begin to experiment this kind of thing.

“So, to us in Rivers State, it is an embarrassing moment. It is a complete show of disrespect to Rivers people by the President Tinubu administration. He has disregarded River State so badly, pushing us to the background, forgetting our contribution to national growth and development and to the stabilization of the of this country.

“I think this it is a joke taken too far, and as Rivers people, I can tell you that what we see today in the entire jamboree of the National Assembly, seeing clearly that the man nominated is not from Rivers State, yet they went ahead to allow it pass because the President has sanctioned it.

“I can tell you that the National Assembly is laid up because you cannot identify something that you have seen as an aberration, and as Lawmakers, you could not come back to tell the President this cannot fly, that it has to be a Rivers indigene. Yet they went ahead, after noting this aberration, and put it in there that we have this bitter pill to swallow. This is unfortunate, and I can tell you that Rivers, people are not happy. We will fight this thing constitutionally.”

Others allege that the President has achieved his aim by handing the State to Minister of the FCT, Nyesom  Wike, with an eye on 2027.

For instance, Chizy Enyi, a Port Harcourt-based political activist, legal pactitioner, and a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress, noted that President Tinubu is concerned with 2027 and nothing else.

His words: “It is now obvious and in the public domain that the reason behind Tinubu’s suspending the executive governor of Rivers State is to take control of the state and to win the election in Rivers State by 2027.

Though this is against the Constitution, Rivers State, or Rivers people, cannot resort to self-help by disrespecting the President to take charge of the state based on the fact that they elected or voted for Fubara, who Tinubu does not have the right to suspend.

“However, having suspended Governor Fubara, we’re all aware that Tinubu said he is saving Rivers State from an impending crisis. Now, the problem between Governor Fubara and Wike has always been his political structure, ‘my structure, my structure.’ He always said the Governor should not tamper with his structure.

“But then what he refers to as a structure is the local government, the party officials, and the cabinet of the governor, appointments and all that.

Now, Tinubu has appointed a Sole Administrator who has resorted to appointing other board members and conducting local government elections in a place where we have military rule.

“Now that we are under military rule, how can we also conduct elections under military rule? Now, conducting elections and giving appointments to all Wike’s supporters, having appointed the Sole Administrators of the various local governments, all as Wike’s supporters, is the evidence of the fact that truly Tinubu has resorted to giving Wike the structure he meant.

“Else, how will Tinubu suspend the sitting governor and then allow the election of local government chairmen to be conducted? Now the Supreme Court said that the Sole Administrators, or any appointee, as a local government chairman, whether caretaker or underany nomenclature, should not head local government. But since the appointment of the Sole Administrator, he has also appointed the Sole Administrators of the various local governments. Tinubu has refused to acknowledge that this is against the provisions of the Constitution and also the judgment of the Supreme Court.

“Assuming it is the people of Fubara who are being appointed as the Sole Administrators of local governments, Wike’s supporters would have resorted to violence.

Everything about violence happening in Rivers State has always been done by Wike’s supporters. So the problem here in Rivers State, everybody knows, is not about the Governor, is not about any other thing, but it’s about President Tinubu giving Wike back the structure to deliver him by 2027.

“We only have to be law-abiding, but in 2027, we are not yet very close to ’27 and yet they decided to do this to reverse people’s mandate. The President has decided to undermine Rivers State. For the past two years now that he was elected, he has not visited the state, yet he wants our votes.

“2027 will determine whether or not President Tinubu is doing well. By June 12, there were also many expectations that Fubara would have been reinstated. He [Tinubu] refused and deliberately turned down the hope, wishes, and aspirations of Rivers’ people. Time will tell, and history will always repeat itself.

“It’s going to be very bad that Rivers will always remember President Tinubu for bad instead of for good.”

Also speaking, a former National Publicity Secretary of the New Peoples Democratic Party, nPDP, and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, told Newspot that the suspension of democracy is the President’s agenda to underdevelop Rivers State.

Eze said that ahead of the 2027 general elections, Tinubu is strategising to ensure that a former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, does not have a solid base politically.

“He is after Amaechi and not Rivers State per se,” he said, adding that Tinubu has captured the state for his 2027 agenda.

“President Tinubu is not being influenced by any external force, but this is his agenda, to underdevelop Rivers State to avoid the state from being developed like Lagos and Akwa Ibom States.

“It is a calculated strategy to ensure that Amaechi does not have a solid base politically. He is after Amaechi and not Rivers State per se.

“He has captured the resources of Rivers State for his 2027 agenda, but it is left to the people of Rivers State to continue to tolerate his evil agenda.

“The emergency rule will only end when he is sure that Sim Fubara is so incapacitated and ready to carry out their evil agenda against Rivers State and her people.

“From the security challenges facing many states where hundreds are being killed, we can now deduce accurately that it wasn’t any security challenge pertaining to Rivers State that brought about the state of emergency, but a selfish drive to destroy Rivers State.

“I am sad because some of the misguided fellows that call themselves leaders from the state are rejoicing and celebrating while Tinubu is destroying their state. May God have mercy upon them all.”

A Port Harcourt resident,  Dike Emmanuel, who spoke to a news medium, said: “All the road projects that were started by Governor Fubara have been abandoned. There are no new ones. I wonder what the money from the Federation Account is being channeled to.”

Dismissing the reason for which President Tinubu declared a State of Emergency in the State, he said:

Emmanuel who spoke to Newspot said: “There was peace in Rivers State even before the President suspended the Governor. If you are looking for places where people are being killed on a daily basis, you can go to Benue, Zamfara, Plateau, and all those places. Not Rivers. There was no need to declare a state of emergency here.”