Time for Minister Wike to Ceasefire…
By Taiwo Olapade
From all indications, it seems that the Minister for the FCT, Mr. Nyesom Wike, is taking undue advantage of his position in the corridors of power and perhaps his closeness to the Villa to vehemently resist the return of peace to Rivers State.
Would Nyesom Wike have lasted this long in this unnecessary show of power if he were in his home state like every other former governor and not serving as a minister?
Governor Simi Fubara is already taking every necessary step to comply with the Supreme Court verdict of February 28, but the Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly—proclaimed legal by the same apex court—is the one frustrating the move.
Would I be right to say that the Rivers State House of Assembly is now working against the verdict of the Supreme Court? And if that is the case, should such actions be allowed to continue unchecked?
For those of us who are lawyers, can the governor return to the Supreme Court to lodge complaints over the frustrating attitude of the lawmakers? Or what other options are open to him since we have already heard from the final arbiter?
With utmost and high respect for the Justices of the Supreme Court, permit me to say that I have an opinion on one of the verdicts that recommended the stoppage of the disbursement of allocation to Rivers State. A similar scenario played out when our current President, Bola Tinubu, was the governor of Lagos with Obasanjo as President. It was a case of the creation of 37 Local Council Development Areas in Lagos in 2003, which the federal government rejected, leading to the illegal stoppage of allocations to the state for over a year until the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lagos. The late former President Umar Yar’Adua later released the withheld council funds to Lagos during Governor Fashola’s administration. The rest is history.
After the first attempt by the governor to present the 2025 budget last week failed—as the House of Assembly was under lock despite evidence of correspondence from the governor to the speaker—Mr. Fubara has now indicated his decision to return to the Assembly this Wednesday to do the needful, even though the Assembly has adjourned sine die.
Another attempt to delay the presentation of the 2025 budget by the governor is the Assembly’s decision to summon members of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission over the August date set aside for fresh local government elections. The House has also threatened to issue a warrant of arrest for the RISIEC Chairman, Justice Adolphus Enebeli, for his failure to appear with other members to account for funds spent in conducting the October 2024 exercise.
Minister Wike governed Rivers State for eight years and fulfilled his responsibilities to the residents, including civil servants, on a monthly basis. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled against the release of funds to the state until the governor corrects the anomalies identified—with his loyal Assembly members unwilling to work with Fubara—what will be the fate of the innocent people of the state he claims to love dearly?
The time is now for Minister Wike—who, within a short time, has changed the face of the FCT—to let peace reign supreme in Rivers State and forgive Governor Fubara in the overall interest of the people.
