By Elizabeth Chukwuma and Lateef Adegbite
Nyesom Wike, a former governor of Rivers state, and now minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, under the Present President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Administration , conflict of interest in the running of the affairs Rivers state appears to be pushing the country into another round of oil sabotage by militants in the Niger Delta region.
Wike, the ambitious Rivers state born politician , may have wanted to testrun his godfather-ism role in Rivers sttate after the 2023, governor and State House of Election.
The former Rivers state governor and the Opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, power broker, was said to have plotted his way by anointing Siminalayi Fubara, state Accountant General to be his successor and also ensured that his loyalties dominate the state House of Assembly for easy passage of all bills originating from the Government House with little or no debate from the Lawmakers.
In preparing Fubara, the state Government Accountant General as the next governor of the state, the incumbent FCT minister, who believes he has arrived politically to compete favourably with President Tinubu, who dictates the affairs of Lagos state , from the governor’s level, who becomes an Assembly member to other political appointees, including Local Government Chairmen to do so same in Rivers state.
It was not surprising why the embattled Gov. Fubara, the then Accountant General of the Niger Delta state, was given unprecedented accelerated promotion in the state civil service ahead of his contemporaries who were said to have complained bitterly but to no avail. He was said to have been moved from salary grade level 14 in the state Civil Service structure to the Grade Level 17, exclusively approved for top civil servants occupying the position Permanent Secretary in two years.
Fubara, as the then Accountant General of Rivers state during Wike’s Administration may have stepped on toes over the handling of the state finances that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, under the then Chairmanship of Abdulrasheed Bawa, was said to hate declared him and 58 others wanted over alleged fraud of N435 billion in the state in 2022.
The Punch Newspaper, a Lagos based tabloid had reported on May, 24, 2022, that the then Rivers state Accountant General and four others particular, were invited by the anti-graft agency for questioning ”for suspected N117 billion fraud, alleged criminal conspiracy, money laundering, misappropriation of public funds and abuse of office”.
The then Gov. Wike , may not have seen the EFCC , invitation to state Accountant General and four others in the state ministry of Finance funny as he seen it as a ploy the Commission acting out a script to go after him. He was said to have directed the state Commissioner of Justice and Attorney- General, to write a strong-worded protest letter to the EFCC, over what he was said to have described as ”the harassment of Fubara, the state’s PDP’s governorship Candidate for the 2023, election”.
An aggrieved Wike may have sent a message to the President Buhari, that nobody will accept the use of EFCC, at such political period in Nigerian history to intimidate Opposition party Candidates in order to achieve their political goals, threatening to charge the Commission for contempt.
He has his reason for sending the protest letter to the EFCC, because the Rivers state Government had secured a subsisting court judgement against the EFCC, not ”to instigate the Rivers state finances or its officials”, which he had said had not been” set side”.
Perhaps, to forestall the Leadership of the EFCC, from going ahead with the investigation of the Rivers state finances, may have informed why he was said to have thrown his weight behind Tinubu, the former Lagos state governor and the ruling APC, Presidential Candidate, for the 2023, general election,against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the PDP, flag bearer. The APC, Flag bearer won the 2023, election.
Given that he had been the one carrying the cross of Fubara, as the former Accountant General of the state before his election as the governor of the state in the 2023, may have encouraged him to draw up the list of people to be given political appointments which was said to have been handed over him at the time he got back from the PortHarcourt stadium after the May 29, 2023, inauguration.
Wike, the immediate past governor of Rivers state and the alleged godfather of Gov. Fubara, was said to have appointed his kitchen and other domestic staff, driver, up and his Chief Security Officer, CS.He was said to have also appointed the Commissioners who will work with him in the state, but most of them were said to have served under his Administration, meaning that they still owe their loyalty to him and not Fubara.
The mass resignation of the Wike loyalists who were appointed Commissioners and other political appointees of the Fubara’s Government over the frosty relatons between the duo speaks volume. The embattled governor’s close working relationship with the ex-Niger Delta militant Asari Dkubo, now the Amanyanabo of Torusarama Piri in Degema Local Government Area of the state may have given him the audacity to challenge his old godfather.
His boldness to challenge FCT, minister , may have been seen by Martins Amaewhele speaker, Rivers state House of Assembly , believed to be a staunch supporter of Wike and other 25 Lawmakers , as an affront and were determined to make the administration of the state difficult for him unitl he normalises his relationship with Wike.
The FCT minister , loyalists who formed the majority in the state House of Assembly , acting out a script, were said to concluded arrangement ”to impeach Gov. Fubara and Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu over alleged gross misconduct in the performance of the functions of the office in accordance with the provisions of the 199 Constitution as amended”.
The 26 members of the Rivers state House who were said to have returned to the House on the Supreme Court ruling after their Seats were said to have declared vacant on the allegation of dumping the PDP, the platform under which they were elected in the state for the Opposition APC, had made governance difficult in the state.
Through the Court process, the Court process, the 26 Lawmakers, were said to have headed to the Federal High Court in Abuja, the FCT, to stop the Accountant General of the Federation, from further releasing the Federal allocations to the Rivers state Government, until a valid appropriation Bill is passed by the House.
The case was said to have been dragged to the Supreme Court. On February 28, 2025, the apex Court, had barred the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, under the close watch of Olayemi Michael Cardoso, and the Accountant General of the Federation based on the Court ruling from FURTHER relEasing funds to the then Gov. Fubara government , until ” it purged itself flagrant disobedience to court orders”.
With the political crisis in Rivers state heading for for a showdown between the the two warring camps, in the state, may have provided an alibi for President Tinubu, too suspend Gov. Fubara, deputy governor Odu and other elected members of the state House of Assembly for six months in the first instance to calm frayed nerves and the appointment of the Cross river state born Vice Admiral Ibokete Ibas, a former Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, during the Buari’s Administration, as the Sole Administrator of the Niger Delta state on Monday, March 18, 2025.
President Tinubu, may have acted in order to facilitate the release of the state’s blocked Federal allocation since the beginning of the year 2025. Lateef Fgbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, may have alluded to this when he stated that the Federal Government had acted in order to ensure that if ”it releases the blocked monthly allocations to the newly sworn -in Sole Administrator of the state, Vice Admiral Ibas, it will be used for the provision of basic infrastructural facilities in the state.The minister had said that an extraordinary situation had arisen in the oil-rich state hence the initial seizure of the allocations had to be overruled.
Reports making rounds shows that the state 2025 budget estimates, the state will receive allocations of over N400 million and an additional N279.5 billion in revenue from the Federation Allocation and Accounts Committee, FACC, in the six months of Gov. Fubara’s suspension.
Note that the Rivers state government had projected to receive a total sum of N 559.1 billion from FACC, this 2025, which translates to a monthly allocation of N46.5 billion.
Vice Admiral Ibas , who is determined to ensure proper use of the released funds had said that it will be for provision of basic infrastructural facilities in the state and complete the multi-million naira ongoing state Hose of Assembly project.
The ex-Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, was said to have urged the Gov. Fubara, engaged Contracting firm, handling the state House of Assembly project , Monier Construction Company, MCC, Limited, to speed up work and deliver the project that has 34 en-suite offices on a two-story building with an elevator gallery, meeting rooms and Conference Hall, and deliver as agreed in the contract agreement.
The new Rivers state Sole Administrator was said to have given the matching order to the state House of Assembly complex project contracting firm when he inspected the facility located Moscow road, in Port Harcourt Local Government on Saturday, March 22, 2025 , expedite work on the project to be commissioned before he vacates office in the next six months.
The Rivers state Administrator who could not hide his feelings was said to have told those that cares to listen that he had noticed a missing pillar in the state governance structure and determined to ensure that , ‘’there is a place for effective Legislative activities after his six months in office. He has his reason to facilitate the completion of the project because of his Presidential mandate which included ‘’restoring full and effective Legislative duties in the state’’.
In spite of the good intentions of President Tinubu, to save the Rivers state political crisis from degenerating, Former President Goodluck Jonathan has criticized the former Lagos state governor’s decision ‘’to suspend Gov. Fubara and Deputy Governor Odu, including the elected members of the state House of Assembly, stating that ‘’it has tarnished the country’s image in the comity of nations’’. He was said to have expressed his ”disappointment at the removal of the elected officials”.
Recall that Senator Babafemi Ojudu, and a close political ally of President Tinubu, who was not happy over the suspension of Gov. Fubara, Deputy governor Odu and other elected officials of the state House of Assembly fears that the Nigerian economy which depends on crude oil production and exports may lose out because he is still keeping Wike, one of the arrowheads of the crisis in Rivers state in his Cabinet.
The Ekiti state born politician and media veteran, who was said to have made the Nigerian President to realize that the Niger Delta crisis twice had pushed the country’s economy into recession under former President Buhari, would want him to revisit the Rivers political crisis, noting that at a point the country’s oil production level had collapsed to below 400,000 barrels, per day, down from 2.5 million barrels daily.
An aggrieved Senator Ojudu, had said that that ‘’catastrophic drop in the country’s oil production level during Buhari’s Administration was a direct result of political mismanagement and conflict in the Niger Delta region and must not be allowed to repeat itself.
He had alluded to the efforts made by formerPresident Umaru Yar’adua, now deceased, stressing that ”it took years of painstaking and immense risks to stabilize the region, stop the sabotage of oil infrastructure and restore some level of production’’. Senator Ojudu, could speak out his mind because he was part of that difficult and excruciating process and do not want the country to degenerate to that level again.
He fears that with threat from some of the militant leaders in the Niger Delta region, particular, from the likes of Asari-Dokubo camp, ”the country risk renewed pipeline sabotage, illegal oil hunkering and militant activities in the region”.
He was emphatic that the suspension of Gov. Fubara and Deputy governor Odu and other elected officials of the state ‘’portends disaster for President Tinubu’s Administration, for the economy and for the nation’’.
