Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

How Pro-Wike Forces Are Losing On the battlefield

How Pro-Wike Forces Are Losing On the battlefield

By PHC Telegraph

Governor Siminalayi Fubara (middle) and PDP youth leaders who visited Government House, Port Harcourt, seen in group picture.

 

From the 36 states of the Federation, youth leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, converged in the Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt.

Their mission, it turned out, was to express solidarity with Governor Siminalayi Fubara whose courage in the face of adversity is turning the tide in favour of the Rivers liberation struggle.

Expectedly, the visit of PDP youth leaders to the State has generated quite a lot of interest in several political circles, even as anti-Fubara forces stare in disbelief, now that there are growing talks about a gathering storm within the party.

“It was however proof”, the Telegraph learnt from a dependable source “that Governor Fubara, whose peaceful disposition is being acknowledged,  is gradually becoming a rallying point in the ongoing fight by PDP chieftains as well as PDP youths to salvage the party from the abyss.”

Pro-Wike supporters may be wondering what is happening to their bid to unsettle the peace in Rivers State and create turmoil within the party across the nation.

There was a time that pro-Wike elements were seen as invisible and untouchable on the field of battle.

Not any more. It is becoming apparent that the centre of their struggle to bring Fubara to his heels may no longer hold.

Somehow, Fubara, a one-time close associate of Wike who probably sat through every plan of his former boss, seems to have what appears to be like the perfect antidote.

That intimate knowledge of the schemes plotted in the past, the thinking that goes into every plan and perhaps, the effort spent gathering intelligence, is neutralising every move that has been made against him.

While the supporters of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory are losing grounds, given the run of events, support for the Rivers Governor and his administration is growing within and outside the State.

To a large extent, Nigerians watch attempts by Wike and his associates to emasculate Fubara within the PDP, and many of them within the party and across the nation are raising their voices.

Governor Siminalayi Fubara shakes the hands of youths who travelled to Port Harcourt to express solidarity with him.

 

They say a great injustice is being done to Fubara, current Vice Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, who should be the true leader of the party in his State.

Wike, a former presidential aspirant of the PDP and former Governor of the State has staked a claim, saying he is the defacto leader of the party in Rivers State.

The former Governor had equally posited when the war of survival began that he controls an awesome political machine which in the last eight years has pointed the direction of Rivers State,  elected Fubara as governor and contributed immensely to the sustenance of the PDP at the national level.

This unwholesome claim and the insults heaped on Dr Peter Odili, one-time Rivers governor, has led to sharp reactions among  Rivers people who are custodians of power.

Chief David Briggs, Chief Ambrose Nwuzi and Robinson Ewoh who is now the acting state Chairman of the PDP took Wike to the cleaners on AriseNews, accusing him of acts of bad faith.

Within the PDP, where a great controversy is raging, the latest source of friction is coming against the backdrop of several victories secured in the temple of justice against pro -Wike elements.

Although Senator Sam Anyanwu, National Secretary of the party has obtained an order for the stay of execution of a court judgment against him which has been displayed publicly, the Court of Appeal has affirmed the position of an Enugu High Court that ruled Anyanwu who resigned his position to contest the gubernatorial election in Imo State has no justification to return to his seat.

The courts further held that SKE Okoye is the legitimate occupant of the seat of the National Secretary of the PDP.

In Port Harcourt, another court ruled a few days ago that the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party led by Illiya Damagum lacked the locus standi to conduct ward, local government and State congresses which held in Rivers State.

Accordingly, Wike’s men on the State Exco chaired by Aaron Chukwuemeka, who have been parading as officials of the party have been thrown out as the battle for liberation intensifies.

Strings Of Court Victories: 

Within the past one year, Wike and his supporters have suffered severe setbacks, especially in court.

Records show the move by the Wike camp to strangulate the State by denying it of funds from the federation account collapsed.

The Court of Appeal which decided the matter held that it could not go along with the judicial pronouncement of Justice Joyce Abdulmalik.

The effort to extend the tenure of council chairmen whose service years expired, but who were given an extension not known to law by Martins Amaewhule and 24 others similarly collapsed.

In the same vein, an attempt to get the courts to invalidate the outcome of the local government elections organised by RSIEC fell like a pack of cards. There was nothing in the law books to prevent RSIEC and the Rivers State Government from conducting the said elections, the court held.

Of late, another move to compel Fubara to do business with Martins Amaewhule and 24 others hasn’t seen the light of day.

Instead, that bid tabled in court which was designed by pro-Wike forces to confer some legitimacy on the Amaewhule led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly fell from the rooftop.

Accordingly, the plea to get Governor Fubara to re-present the 2025 State Budget to Amaewhule and others was thrown out.

Something significant equally came to light. The court reminding the world that Wike had governed the State at some point with six lawmakers.

Thus far, all the amendments made to some laws of Rivers State by pro-Wike lawmakers which were not consistent with the spirit of the law have all been reversed while the actions of the legitimate Assembly of the Rivers people have received legal backing.

The clock ticks as many inside and outside the State await the decision of the court on the status of Amaewhule and his friends.

Will they survive?

At the centre of the legal tussle is what the Nigerian Constitution says in Section 109, sub section 1(g).

Sogbeye Eli, a lawyer argued on Arise Television Saturday that the said section is self executory.

Not many on the Wike side will agree. They say it is subject to arguments before the court.

But.  Sogbeye the son of Eli said there was sufficient evidence that Amaewhule and his colleagues duly defected from the PDP to the APC in contravention of the constitutional provision.

He cited affidavits deposed in court to back his position, saying attempts by pro-Wike lawmakers to perform a half somersault is at best an effort in futility.

As things are, inspite of the existing probability that the entire matter may proceed to the  Supreme Court, the decision which is expected to come at the end of the month would ultimately show in which direction the cause of natural justice is flowing.

Will it be Fubara who carries the day or will it be Wike when that the day comes?

In the meantime, a hush has fallen in the Wike camp as anxiety grows. Many who hitherto boasted about the invincibility of the Wike group in court and elsewhere worry seriously about the future and what it will bring.

In a few more days to come, Rivers people will turn their attention in the direction of the judiciary. No doubt, the fierce struggle between Fubara and Wike, two former friends, affects their lives directly.

Yet, the outcome of the matter, even before litigants run off to the Supreme Court, may prove to be a defining moment for Rivers democracy.

 

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