By Kingston Magare
Rivers State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party said governor Siminalayi Fubara adhered to the rule of law in conducting last Saturday’s Local Government elections and swearing elected chairmen.
PDP Rivers publicity secretary Sydney Gbara, who was reacting to statements credited to former governor and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, saying Mr. Fubara did not obey court orders halting the election was the cause of crisis in Rivers State.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and presided by Justice Peter Lifu, had declared that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, violated requisite provisions by not publishing the mandatory 90 days’ notice before fixing the date for the election.
But the RSIEC went ahead with the election and the Action Peoples Party, backed by governor Fubara won in 22 out of the 23 LGAs in the state.
Wike who was speaking on Channels TV Tuesday said on the election: “There is peace when you obey the rule of law. There is peace when you obey court judgements,” the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) said.
“Obey court judgement and allow the rule of law to prevail. If you don’t obey the law, you are bringing anarchy,” he said.
“I was a governor, I have always obeyed the rule of law. You heard the governor say that our state is turning into a state of anarchy where people do not obey the rule of law.
“You must obey the judgement of the court. You must not take the law into your own hands. The moment you don’t obey court judgement, you are inviting anarchy, you are inviting violence.”
However, Mr. Sydney Gbara who was speaking in an interview with the Daily Post noted that Wike erred in his assessment of the situation.
“We are aware that no court judgement can stop an electoral process. What we know is that if you are not okay with an election, you can approach the court after it is conducted. So they should go to court,” said Mr. Gbara.
“Let me take Nigerians back, conducting the local government election was one of the items on the presidential peace proclamation made by President Bola Tinubu in 2023. They (Wike and his supporters) have been willing to see the election conducted.
“At one point they even instructed the assembly that if Fubara refuses to conduct the election, he should be impeached. It is now surprising that when the RSIEC drew out the timetable for the election, they are now doing everything possible to stop it.
“This is where the conversation should start from and not whether there was a court judgement or not.
“In fact, it got to a point where the assembly elongated the tenure of the previous LG Chairmen and that was the first of its kind in the history of Nigerian democracy. Now the governor said he is ready for the election and the same people are now speaking from the other side of their mouths, saying the election should not be held.
“Where has Governor Fubara gone wrong? The Supreme Court has given judgement prohibiting caretaker committees and said every state should have elected LG Chairmen and they have a time frame of 90 days or else the state will not get allocation.
“Governor Fubara is just being obedient to the Supreme Court judgment. Anyone who wants to truncate the process does not mean well for Rivers people.
“Innocent people were killed in cold blood all in a bid to frustrate the electoral process. The truth is that they came late because Rivers People have decided to move on with Fubara.”
