Finding solution to Rivers State political crisis – Emodamori

READING THE CRYSTAL BALL IN RIVERS DEBACLE; A PRESS STATEMENT ON RIVERS POLITICAL DRAMA.

We had witnessed a prelude of the events playing out in Rivers State today in Edo State sometime in 2020, when Governor Obaseki aided some members of the Edo State House of Assembly to take over the affairs of the House and prevent other members from being inaugurated, thereby disallowing them from exercising their constitutional mandate. Governor Obaseki equally bulldozed the Edo State House of Assembly just to prevent the anti-Obaseki faction from sitting. Most Nigerians who ought to condemn the actions of Obaseki then, particularly from his own PDP, remained silent.
It is the peak of political hooliganism caused by what you may either call unhealthy godfatherism in Nigerian politics or disloyalty and ingratitude, depending on your own perspective.
As a lawyer, I regard a situation where 4 out of 32 members (amounting to 12.5%) of a House of Assembly would sit to conduct legislative business inside the Government House or the Governor’s official quarters as an aberration. I also consider the demolition of the State House of Assembly by the Governor as an act of gross misconduct or an impeachable offence under Section 188(11) of the Constitution, based on the Supreme decision in Inakoju v. Adeleke (Ladoja’s case), where the Court listed instances of gross misconduct to include “Interference with the constitutional functions of the Legislature and Judiciary by an exhibition of overt unconstitutional executive power.”
On the other hand, the thoughtless defection of 27 members of the House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) could be a valid ground for declaring their seats vacant, based on the provisions of Section 109(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution and the Supreme Court decision in the case of Hon. Ifedayo Sunday Abegunde v. The Ondo State House of Assembly, where the court held that an elected lawmaker who defects from the political party that sponsored him to another political party automatically loses his seat, unless he can prove that the party that sponsored him has become completely divided or factionalized to the extent that the party can no longer effectively operate, or as a result of a merger between that party and another political party.
However, declaring the seats of the 27 members vacant would never solve the intractable crises in Rivers. Even if (and I mean “if”) the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) calls for fresh elections into those seats today, the 27 members have the right to re-contest on the platform of APC, and with the current political configuration in Rivers State, or structure as politicians would call it, they may still return to form an overwhelming majority in the House. They could elect a new speaker from amongst themselves, impeach the Governor and Deputy Governor (except the latter defects or strikes a deal) and take over the Governor’s seat through the Speaker.
There may be no end in sight yet, unless the principal actors close ranks. It was too early for Governor Fubara to fumble. You may not like Wike, but he used all his arsenals, political structure and stupendous wealth (which I suspect is largely ill-gotten) to plant Fubara in office. If Fubara had no conscience to reject whatever “deal” you and I may not know exists between him and his predecessor godfather, as the garrulous Wike has hinted in his characteristically blunt manner that “Agreement is agreement”, then Fubara must be prepared for the consequences of his political ‘uprising’.

Femi Emmanuel Emodamori (Legal Practitioner, Akure)
(15th Dec. 2023)