The recent foiled attempt by the Rivers State House of Assembly members who are the appendages of former governor of the state and the current Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike to impeach the sitting governor of the state, Simi Fubara has resuscitated godfatherism in the country writes Chiemerie Chibuike
Monday, 30, October 2023 would remain in the political annals of Rivers State as the day the emperor of Rivers politics, former governor and current Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT Nyesom Wike lost the grip on the political soul of the state for the past decades.
The political fall of the FCT minister, according to political pundits is in the offing what with what they described as greedy grip of the fiscal operations of the state. According to them, Wike allegedly demanded for the 25 per cent of the palliative distributed to all the state because of the thoughtless removal of the fuel subsidy by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The demand of Wike was said to have been questioned by the sitting governor, Simi Fubara, and the hell let loose by the supporters of Wike in his government who formed the bulk of the personnel working for the state. Another knotty issue that caused the fratricidal war between Fubara and Wike is the abandoned Songahi Farm which was the brain child of the latter predecessor, Honourable Rotimi Amaechi. It was gathered that Wike abandoned the farm project that had provided employment for the teeming youths of the state for reason best known to him but in keeping in line with his campaign promises of providing jobs for the youths in the state, Governor Fubara decided to revisit the farm project with aim of reviving it and making it functional. That singular act was said to have got the goat of Wike who questioned the rationale behind his successor’s interest in a farm he rejected vehemently, adding that it is an affront on the part of his successor as a way of telling him that he is stupid to have abandoned the project. He allegedly said that it is a subtle way of making his predecessor in the office, Amaechi, a hero.
It was gathered that 95 per cent of the Commissioners working with Governor Fubara was nominated by his predecessor in the office, it did not stop there, his Chief of Staff was appointed by Wike and most of the principal officers were the sidekicks of Wike. All these appointees are said to be royal to Wike instead of the governor thereby reducing the governor to title of Executive Personal Assistant to Wike. An informed source told this medium that all the local government council chairmen in the state are at the beck and call of the former governor thereby making them to disobey any order coming from the governor except directives from political benefactor, the former governor of the state who had sworn according to trusted grapevine that he is ready to give bloody nose to his successor if he does not want to dance to his tune in the way and manner of governing the state.
Sources revealed that since Fubara took oath of office he was expressly warned by his predecessor not to travel outside the state, and on no account should he attend meeting of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s Governors’ Forum. Governor Fubara is said to be a good boy in carrying the orders of his predecessor to the letter until he got the wind that plans were afoot that he would be impeached at the prodding of the man he has been respecting and obeying, and his patience snapped, he decided to fight for his political life, first to dislocate Wike’s loyalists in the state’s House of Assembly and cut them to political seize, secondly to make sure that he rein all the Commissioners forced on him by Wike or be shown the door. Fubara is said to have his Man Friday in the Majority Leader of the House, Ehi Edison, who is doing everything politically possible to make sure that Fubara was not impeached irrespective of where the order is coming from.
On Monday, 30 October, 2023 when the 24 members of the state’s House of Assembly wanted to assert the authority by serving an impeachment notice on the embattled governor, they first of went for the political jugular of Ehi, who is the Man Friday of the governor in the House and suspended him but the governor reacted swiftly by personally going to the House of Assembly despite all the odds put by the security operatives to stop him from entering the Assembly complex, he installed his man, Ehi as the new Speaker of the House with eight members of the house who are loyal to him. The deed done he jetted out of the state to attend the meeting of the PDP in Abuja against the instruction of his predecessor in the office. An informed source told this medium that Fubara despite attending the reconciliatory meeting said to have been brokered by President Tinubu, the governor is bent on saying enough is enough on the firm grip of his predecessor on the governance of the state even when he is no more the governor of the state. Source said that what happened at the state House of Assembly and solidarity shown the governor by the residents of the state was an eye opener that liberation of the state from the hands of one man is absolutely possible, and he is not going back in making sure that the political powers of his predecessor in the state are whittled down.
The same fate meted to former governors of the state; Dr. Peter Odili and Rotimi Amaechi awaits Wike because during his tenure as the governor of the state, Wike made sure that Amaechi was declared persona non granta for meddling in the governance of the sate even when Amaechi was his predecessor in the office. In days to come, Fubara might begin to curry the favour of Amaechi and some political big shots in the state that hitherto had fallen out with the emperor of the Rivers politics, Wike. Information has it that some of the foot soldiers of Fubara are already reaching out to aggrieved parties in PDP from the state because of Wike, to come back and enjoy full respect from the brand new governor of the state, adding that it is not going to be business as usual.
Investigation choreographed by this medium revealed that the decision of Fubara to reverse some of the decision taken by Wike when he was governor appears to have got the goat of the latter, the reason for the political onslaught against his hitherto political sidekick. It was gathered that a farm company that would have provided employment to the teeming youths in the state was abandoned by the Wike administration but Fubara said that the farm is viable therefore he is going to resuscitate it to serve as a source of employment to youths in the state thereby reducing the unemployment index in the state which is currently put at 50 per cent. According to the Governor, the value chain of the company would impact positively on the poverty level in the state. Wike was said to have queried his successor that does it mean that he does not know anything? Wike allegedly insisted that such move is an affront on his integrity as the former governor and must be resisted by every political means possible. And the reason for the ongoing impeachment process which has been promptly resisted by the sitting governor by dislocating members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who are loyal to his predecessor.
Facts checked by this medium revealed that when governors on the platform of the opposition went to meet Wike to chart way on the best way to resolve the matter, the unrepentant Minister of FCT told his guess t that nobody would take over his political structures in the state and that the impeachment process against his successor has not be precluded, insisting that impeachment is still within the rule of law in democracy, therefore, nobody should demonize House members who are pushing for the impeachment of the governor.
The scenario playing out in Rivers state is a testament to the fact that godfatherism has been the bane of democracy since 1999 till date. It has happened in Enugu between Jim Nwobodo and former governor of the state Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, the Nnamani and Sullivan Chime and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi all had their fair share of the menace of godfatherism. The same scenario played in Edo State between Godwin Obaseki and former governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole left soured taste in the mouth of the latter because the former did not only oust the political structure of his predecessor but supplanted it with his own political structure in the state.
Whatever is the case, what played in the above mentioned states is about repeating itself in Rivers state because the bold steps of the sitting governor of the state is a prove that the end is in the offing for former governor, Wike.
