Chief Edwin Clark, the leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has in an open letter to Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu demanded clarification on the actions of his Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and a former governor of Rivers State Mr Nyesom Wike.
Clark is fingering Mr Wike for the political impasse in Rivers State although he provided no evidence in his letter linking the former governor. But a wing of the state house of assembly in October appeared to have made moves to impeach Gov. Siminalayi Fubara from office and Wike was on record to support the move, calling impeachment “a constitutional process and not a military coup”.
President Tinubu had waded into the matter and while details of the truce between the ex-governor and his protege were not made public, it appeared for a while that both sides had sheath their swords.
On Monday however, 27 members of the 32-member state House of Assembly – said to be loyal to Mr. Wike, collectively decamped from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and joined the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). Some analysts read that as a strategic step to potentially reignite the impeachment effort against the governor.
Wike, although of PDP, has been frolicking with the president’s party APC who he helped win his state (against his party) and get President Tinubu elected. For his effort, Tinubu appointed Wike into the juicy office of the minister in-charge of the national capital..
But relations between Wike and Fubara have since soured and Wike is demanding that Fubara not make personnel changes to the political structures he left behind.
In his open letter to the President on Monday, Chief Clark asked why Wike, despite publicly denouncing godfatherism while he was governor, is meddling in the affairs of the state which has a substantive governor elected by the people.
In the open letter, the Niger Delta leader rhetorically asked the President, “If all governors who as a matter of right, insist on allowing their favored candidates as successor, insist on controlling them, insist on controlling the State Assemblies, insist on controlling the structure which they left behind, what manner of confusion will we have in Nigeria?”
He warned the President, “Let no one be deceived, the situation is not yet over and things seem to be degenerating by the day”.
He said the crisis has been compounded by the defection of 27 members of the state house of assembly from the governor’s party.
“The question is what is going on? If strong politicians such as yourself and other former presidents never talk about controlling structures, how can a minister be threatening a governor not to touch a structure he has left in place”.
“This is a bad precedent” Clark wrote to the president, “and if other Ministers in your government follow this trend, then it will be total confusion!”
PDP Demands Fresh Election To Replace Defectors
In the meantime the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded the seats of the defected legislators be declared vacant and fresh elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately to replace the 27 state legislators.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the PDP argues that by defecting from the PDP, the political Party platform on which they were elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly, the seats of the respective 27 former lawmakers have become vacant by virtue of the provision of Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
“Our Party cautions that the former lawmakers should stop parading themselves as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly as such would amount to impersonation with serious criminal consequences. The PDP commends the people of Rivers State for their steadfastness and loyalty to Democracy and Rule of Law especially at this time.” the statement further read.
The presidency is yet to react to the demands of the 95-year-old revered leader of the oil rich region of the country in which Rivers State is situated.
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