THE tension in Rivers State has snowballed into larger chaos as hoodlums opposed to the outcome of Saturday’s local government election have started vandalising and burning government properties.
Governor Siminalayi Fubara on Sunday swore in the newly elected council chairmen of the 23 local government areas hours after they were issued certificates of return by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission.
The Action Peoples Party won 22 out of 23 chairmanship positions, while the Action Alliance candidate won one seat in an election held against a backdrop of palpable tensions. The APP LG chairmen are loyalists of Fubara, who has been in a supremacy battle for the soul of Rivers with his estranged political godfather, former governor Nyesom Wike.
Determined to prevent the newly sworn-in chairmen from resuming at their various offices, thugs on Monday morning swooped on LG secretariats shooting, burning vehicles, and vandalising properties. They set part of the Eleme LGA secretariat on fire.
It was the same in the Ikwerre LGA secretariat, Isiokpo, where thugs protesting the legitimacy of Saturday’s elections burned down the office of the chairman.
The Emohua LGA secretariat was rocked by an explosion shortly after the newly sworn-in chairman, David Omereji, had inaugurated his deputy, Patience Ebere, along with 14 councillors. Irate youths detonated explosives, destroying the secretariat buildings.
One person reportedly died in Bori, Khana LGA.
Fubara had on Sunday alleged that there were plans to perpetrate violence against the elected officials when they resume their duties on Monday.
Coincidentally, mayhem ensued after the withdrawal of police officers from all 23 LG secretariats by the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun on Monday.
The withdrawal exacerbated the tensions in the state, leading to the breakdown of law and order.
The turbulence could pose a wider security issue for Nigeria. It suggests strongly that Nigeria’s political class is still reckless, primordial, and self-serving.
The idea of the godfather precipitated the violent farce. Political pundits liken it to the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau situation: the immediate past governor is reportedly trying to influence his protégé. Trying to be his own man, Fubara is at loggerheads with the FCT Minister.
Since assuming office in May 2023, Fubara has been at war with Wike. To complicate the war, most of the House of Assembly members defer to Wike. In October, the Rivers HoA complex was bombed. Two months on, it was demolished by the government.
Nigerian politicians should rethink. The main point of governance is to better the lot of the citizens, not personal battles for control of the system.
The war of attrition in Rivers has consumed almost the entire 16-month tenure of Fubara. The state does not need a politically debilitating crisis during an economic downturn.
The military initially intervened in national politics in 1966 because of the toxic turf war in the Western Region. The Northern People’s Congress-led central government stoked the fire by declaring a state of emergency in the region between 1962 and 1963. The one-sided decision did not work and aggravated the internal crisis there. Eventually, the military staged a coup.
Therefore, the political class should be circumspect. Egbetokun should not take sides. The withdrawal of the police from the LG secretariats on Monday is indefensible considering the tensions that had engulfed the state in the past few months.
President Bola Tinubu, who once intervened by calling Fubara and Wike to a peace meeting, should not use the federal might for intimidation in the state.
The elders of Rivers and others like former President Goodluck Jonathan and Ijaw leader Edwin Clark should intervene decisively to restore peace.
Fubara should be allowed to control his government without external influence by godfathers.
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