Rivers Political Crisis And Fubara’s Quiet Revolution

Once upon a time, they were friends and political associates. They were inseparable.The camaraderie was unprecedented. The smiles. The back-slapping.The clinking of glasses.The political victory celebrations.The warm embrace.The mutual respect and love for each other. Then, the slavish obeisance.It was unparalleled.One called the other, my Oga. It was truly so. But all that is gone with the wind.The game of politics is an intriguing thing.One can not predict what happens the next moment. Friends today, enemies or political foes tomorrow. So it is with Chief Nyesom Wike. So it is with Governor Siminalayi Fubara.So it is with several others. But in politics, there is no permanent friend and no permanent enemy.What is permanent is interest.
Interestingly, what appears to be permanent in the feud between Wike and Governor Fubara is the interest of the people. The interest of the deprived people of Rivers State and the interest of the down-trodden. Governor Fubara is proving it on a daily basis.His administration is proving it too.Through the body language of the governor, through his actions and utterances.Smiles are appearing on the faces of the people again, after a very long time.And what they are seeing and feeling is the quiet revolution of a man who has come to serve, a leader who is selfless, who thinks less of himself but thinks more of what would better the lives of the people.
This could be seen through the kind of policies and programmes his administration is pursuing.The policies and programmes are favourable to the people.They do not hurt them, nor make tears to drop on their cheeks.They do not cause them immeasurable pains, inflicted on them by sadistic arrogance.
Governor Siminalayi Fubara, a Knight of Saint Christopher is calm, quiet, urbane, refined, intelligent and calculative; he is not given to too much noise-making; nor sounding his trumpet. The lofty achievements of his administration within the past one year in office are not given undue undulation through unnecessary media hypes. His calm and quiet demeanor is in tandem with the quiet revolution his administration is taking the State through in spite of the massive distractions being orchestrated by political detractors and cynics to make his government fail.
He has shown through words and actions that he is a true man of peace; a man imbued with uncommon wisdom and passion to change the ugly narrative of his people.He speaks truth to his contemporaries and members of his political class, without blushing, without batting an eyelid.
Besides, Governor Fubara is truly showing that he is human-centric.The policies and programmes of his administration are centred on the people. Projects being delivered are people-oriented. Gradually, the man being perceived by opponents as a political neophyte and politically naive is making his marks in governance, and has warmed himself into the hearts of his people.He is today, the man of the people; the man of the moment; and a political phenomenon.
Governor Fubara truly enjoys organic support across the length and breadth of Rivers State.His support base cuts across party affiliation.It cuts across the political spectrum of the State and swells by the day.Members of other political parties in the State are happy and appreciative of his administration.The policies and programmes of his administration sit well with them.They support him because of his selfless disposition to governance, his political carriage and mien. His peaceful disposition has also endeared him to them.Fubara is a leader who does not discriminate against the people because of their social class, ethnicity, tribe, religion and any other primordial sentiments.
His political structure, the Simplified Movement is sweeping across the State like a volcano.Everyday, it wins more supporters to the Governor’s camp. From every indication, this great Ibani son of Ijaw ethnic extraction is averse to greed, crass selfishness and primitive accumulation of wealth, at the expense of the people. That is why the people are falling over heels for him.
The true Siminalayi Fubara persona manifested itself on October 4, 2023, when some lawmakers loyal to Chief Wike reportedly attempted to impeach him.The Governor apparently mounted the soap box, as if he was campaigning to be elected again, and told the whole world that the move to impeach him was unwarranted and uncalled for, since he had committed no impeachable offence, to warrant that.And this won him accolades, goodwill, sympathy, empathy and more support from the distraught people of the State and others. That was the beginning of the political crisis currently rocking the State.That was the first time that the world came to the realisation that all was not well between the political godfather and his political godson. For the first time, the world also saw Fubara as a man that was being intimidated, bamboozled, arm-twisted, oppressed and suppressed by the godfather, for whatever reason. The irony of it all is that while the Governor’s support base continued to grow in leaps and bounds, those fighting him shut their eyes to this reality.They saw the support the Governor has continued to enjoy through an ethnic concave, gave it an ethnic political colouration and took it for granted. So, they continued to dig in, deeper and deeper, with the hope of throwing the State into serious political turmoil.
Before you knew it, the political fight between the godfather and the godson took the turn for the worst, as the smooth operations of government in the State were seemingly paralysed.Cracks emerged here and there.Commissioners loyal to Chief Wike started leaving in droves.The Rivers State House of Assembly was massively polarised.In the face of all these, Governor Fubara kept his cool and maintained his composure.He tried by all means to secure a rapprochment and settlement without success.Even in the face of immense pressure and distractions, he concentrated on governance.
When it was time to broker peace and secure a truce, Governor Fubara obliged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who had intervened in order to simmer down the political imbroglio.First, he impressed it upon Rt Hon Edison Ehie, who had emerged the new Speaker of the House to step down.Then, he re-absorbed into his cabinet the nine Commissioners who had earlier voluntarily resigned their positions.The withheld allowances and entitlements of the lawmakers loyal to Wike were released.The Governor did several other things to appease those apparently aggrieved who were fighting him.All to no avail.
Apparently with the connivance of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, the lawmakers continued to give Governor Fubara hell and vowed to make the State ungovernable.It is unfortunate that they never appreciated and reciprocated the Governor’s humane gestures by giving peace a chance.They rather kept on asking for more like the proverbial Oliver Twist, without giving back anything or conceding any ground in return.This is even when it was glaring that their positions as lawmakers were shaky and precarious, following their defections from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The truth remains that the lawmakers led by Martin Amaewhule had continued to make the State ungovernable through their pre-meditated actions of openly daring an elected Governor, who is empowered and emboldened by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The moves by the lawmakers to override the Governor’s veto, on several occasions, and also threatened to impeach him for the second time, which were also unwarranted and senseless,were the last straws that broke the camel’s back, and put paid to efforts to amicably resolve the political crisis rocking the State.
Little wonder, the Governor had to storm the House of Assembly quarters, where the lawmakers normally congregated, to perfect their perfidious plots.Thus, the relocation of the State House of Assembly to Government House, through an Executive Order was expected, to douse political tension in the State.The House had earlier elected a new Speaker to replace Ehie, the Chief of Staff, Government House, in the person of Rt Hon Victor Oko-Jumbo.
To keep the wheel of governance running, a new Attorney General of the State and Commissioner for Justice, Dagogo Israel Iboroma(SAN) and additional eight new Commissioners were cleared by the Assembly and sworn in by Governor Fubara.
To further confound his political opponents and critics, the state government under the watch of Governor Fubara has continued to roll out the drums in celebration of its one year in office. The celebration has been very remarkable because in spite of massive distractions dogging his path and government, orchestrated by opponents and cynics, Governor Fubara has kept faith with his avowed determination to give the people the best by commissioning and flagging off monumental projects. Through the quiet revolution of his administration, he is rewriting the ugly narrative of the State in all aspects of life.Promotions of civil and public servants including those in local government councils have been accomplished. Low cost houses are springing up.The Songhai Farm is receiving attention. Business people and entrepreneurs are being supported and empowered through the disbursement of soft loans.A whopping sum of N4billion has already been channeled towards this direction. Lots more are happening behind the cameras and kleigh lights.
It was truly a sight to behold, when recently, the Governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti, stormed Rivers State and commissioned the Aleto-Ebubu-Ogale-Eteo Road project. This is instructive because Governor Otti is a member of the Labour Party(LP) while Governor Fubara is a member of the PDP. This is a way of building bridges across party lines.It is what Nigeria needs today.Besides, going by media reports, the Abia State Governor is also performing excellently in office.
The commissioning of the Andoni Section of the Ogoni-Andoni-Opobo Unity Road project, whose construction had lingered for 24 years, by Governor Fubara himself, is the icing on the cake, as it is expected to serve as a great relief to the inhabitants of that area.The Emohua-Kalabari Road project, , the flag-off of the N225billion 12.5kilometre Trans-Kalabari Road project by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is a clear demonstration of a government in action. It is expected to link riverine communities in Kalabari Kingdom to the upland. Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State was also in Rivers State and commissioned the Egbeda internal roads, while the Elele-Egbeda-Omoku Road project was flagged off by Senator John Azuta Mbata.
And to crown it all, former Governor of the State, Dr Peter Odili also commissioned, with pomp and pageantry the Omoku-Egbema Road project.
The phase 1 of the Port Harcourt Electrical Village has been commissioned. The phase 2 of the project has equally been flagged off.Also flagged off is the Okania-Ogbogoro Road project while the phase 2 of the massive Trans-Kalabari Road project is expected to be flagged off on May 30, 2024.The one year in office celebration of the Fubara administration is a harvest of projects. The massive signature project of this administration, the Port Harcourt Ring Road is progressing steadily.
It is also instructive that the Fubara administration, for the first time in several years, successfully organised the Rivers State Economic Investment Summit, under the chairmanship of Donald Duke, former Governor of Cross River State, with other top experts and professionals in attendance.The administration has equally launched a Youth Development Programme. All these are intended to reposition the State and the people, to make them socio-economically relevant and competitive in the comity of States.
From every indication, the Fubara administration’s quiet revolution is geared towards transforming the socio-economic landscape of the State. With the transformation milestones and achievements recorded within the past one year, in spite of distractions, it is deliberately putting in place massive and unprecedented infrastructure that would shape the complexion of the State in the nearest future. By this token, Governor Fubara is taking the battle for the soul of the State to the turf of his political opponents and critics who never gave him a chance. But then, the people and the State are the ultimate beneficiaries.The governor is surely writing his name in gold and etching it on the sands of time with the quiet revolution of his administration.

Donatus Ebi