• 'President has no authority to problem directives to governor'
• Lay an ambush, phrases unfair, we’ll oppose it – Ijaw Congress
• INEC should set up contemporary elections to switch 25 lawmakers, the PDP has pressured
• Fubara: No value, sacrifice too nice for peace
There have been extra criticisms than praises for President Bola Tinubu yesterday over his intervention within the standoff between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, and the attendant political disaster in Rivers State.
Human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) stated the presidential reinstatement of the 27 members of the Rivers Home of Meeting is alien to the Structure.
Regardless of the reported eight-point resolutions reached on the assembly between Tinubu and Rivers stakeholders on Monday night, Falana stated the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) is sure to conduct the by-election as soon as the ex parte order is issued by the Federal Excessive Court docket. .
Noting that the President has no constitutional function to resolve the political crises in Ondo and Rivers States, Falana stated whereas the President could intervene within the crises rocking the states, his intervention should all the time be based mostly are on the provisions of the Structure, albeit advisory.
Falana stated the seats of the members of the cross carpet had been declared vacant by the chairman recognized by legislation. He cited the case of Abegunde v Labor Get together (2015) LPELR 24588 (SC), during which the Supreme Court docket held {that a} lawmaker, who had deserted the political occasion that sponsored him and defected to a different political occasion, would robotically lose his seat misplaced in parliament.
“The lawmaker can solely retain his seat if he can show that the political occasion that supported him is split into two or extra factions. The 27 members of the Rivers Meeting, who switched from the Peoples Democratic Get together (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), have misplaced their seats as a result of the PDP that sponsored them has not been factioned or divided as stipulated within the structure.
“Even when all instances within the Rivers State Excessive Court docket and the Federal Excessive Court docket are withdrawn in accordance with the recommendation of the President, it’s said that every one actions taken by the President, acknowledged by the Rivers State Excessive Court docket, stay legitimate, together with his ruling on the vacant seats of the 27 members of the Home of Representatives.
“In different phrases, solely a court docket has constitutional authority to put aside the ruling of the Speaker, which is enshrined in Article 109 of the Structure. Furthermore, a presidential directive can’t take away him because the Speaker has not been eliminated by the requisite variety of lawmakers.”
Equally, the Minister of Info within the First Republic, Chief Edwin Clark, has criticized President Tinubu for issuing directives to the democratically elected Governor of Rivers State over which he doesn’t have the authority.
That is simply because the elder statesman confirmed that the knowledge at his disposal indicated that the peace deal allegedly signed by Fubara and Wike was faux.
Whereas addressing journalists at his house in Abuja on Tuesday, Clark stated stakeholders on the assembly confirmed to him that Fubara didn’t signal the pact.
Clark stated: “I acquired info from Rivers State that the eight-point determination was faux as a result of it was not signed by former Governor Peter Odili and Fubara himself, they rejected it. How they got here to signal it, nobody is aware of.
“Though Martins Amaewhule, a former chairman, was current on the assembly, it will solely have been truthful and expedient for Edison Ehie, the chairman as confirmed by constitutional provisions, to have been current if there was a real function.
“The eight-point resolutions reached are essentially the most unconstitutional, absurd and offensive resolutions to settle feuding events that I’ve ever seen in my life.
“I, nevertheless, on behalf of our individuals, enchantment to our expensive son, Governor Fubara, to stay steadfast, and that the President of Nigeria has no authority over him. The president was elected, he too was elected with totally different powers. The President will rule Nigeria whereas Fubara will rule Rivers.
“We are going to advise Governor Fubara to reject the alleged settlement. He ought to inform Nigerians that he didn’t signal that settlement. He owes no obligation to anybody. Wike was emperor and dictator in Rivers for eight years. He destroyed homes of his opponents.”
The Ijaw Nationwide Congress (INC), in its response, has stated that the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Wike, clearly ambushed Governor Fubara with the phrases of the peace settlement signed on Monday.
The distinguished Ijaw ethnic group, by its spokesperson, Ezenobi Oyakemeaagbegha, identified that there was no truthful illustration on the assembly, regretting that it was one-sided.
He stated the Ijaw individuals are oppressed, light and meek, but when Fubara can’t bear to withstand such ill-conceived actions in opposition to him, the individuals of Ijaw will unite to withstand the identical.
Additionally, the Rivers State Elders and Leaders Discussion board has said that it’ll not touch upon the ceasefire reached in Abuja over the disaster within the state till the governor addresses the individuals of the state.
Anabs Sara-Igbe, a member of the discussion board in Port Harcourt, stated the individuals of the state are ready for Fubara to deal with them in order that they know what occurred in Abuja.
He stated: “Proper now, we wish the governor to deal with the individuals of Rivers in order that we are able to know what occurred in Abuja. Solely then will we all know what motion to take and what to say.”
A Port Harcourt-based constitutional and human rights lawyer, Festus Ogwuche, has labeled the Abuja ceasefire as a coup in opposition to Governor Fubara and the individuals of the state.
Ogwuche stated the doc and the settlement reached had been opposite to each recognized legislation and the Structure of the nation, including that it was treason for a governor to topic himself to any authority apart from the individuals who voted for him.
“The Governor of a State can’t be subordinate to any authority apart from that given by the Structure and to the authority of the individuals. I ponder if the Governor had the consent and authority of the individuals to endorse such a doc. If he signed the doc, it signifies that the federal government of Rivers State has been taken over in a way not said within the Structure.
“That meets the very fact of betrayal; a treasonable offense if you run an administration exterior the provisions of the Structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There could also be some understanding between politicians, however that isn’t what you set in black and white as a governance instrument.”
In the meantime, the PDP has insisted that INEC ought to maintain contemporary elections in Rivers to fill the vacancies created by the resignation of 25 members of the state meeting.
At a press convention on Tuesday, appearing PDP Nationwide Chairman Umar Damagum stated the occasion wouldn’t relent in its efforts to expel these members from the Home of Representatives as they’ve defected.
Talking on the finish of his emergency assembly of the Nationwide Working Committee (NWC) on the political developments in Rivers, Damagum stated: “Beneath Article 109 (1) (g) of the Structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) the legislatures vacated and misplaced their seats because of the resignation of the PDP, the platform on which they had been elected to the Home of Representatives.
“Our occasion emphasizes that now that they’ve vacated and misplaced their seats, the one choice out there to the previous lawmakers, in the event that they need to return to the Home of Representatives, is to hunt new nominations and re-elections on the platform of any political occasion in any respect. their alternative in accordance with the provisions of the Structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2022.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there isn’t a division throughout the PDP on the nationwide or another stage that may justify the resignation of the 25 former members of the Meeting. They’ve due to this fact vacated their seats for causes greatest recognized to them and can’t return to the Home of Representatives with out going by a brand new electoral course of in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Structure (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2022.”
“For emphasis, Part 84 (15) of the Electoral Act 2022 is obvious in its provision that no court docket shall have the ability to restrain INEC from holding elections wherever and every time a emptiness happens in any constituency,” he declared.
The occasion chairman additional added that on the acceptable time, PDP would take disciplinary motion in opposition to Wike and different members of the occasion who labored in opposition to PDP.
In his first public look after assembly the President, Fubara stated his authorities will make the mandatory sacrifices that may give peace an opportunity within the state and promote improvement. that peace prevails.
The governor gave the reassurance yesterday throughout the third convocation and sixth Founders Day ceremony of the PAMO College of Medical Sciences in Iriebe City, Obio-Akpor Native Authorities Space, an establishment owned by former Governor Peter Odili and his spouse Mary .
The governor assured that he’s ready and can proceed to pay the mandatory value that can assure peace.
