By Lateef Adegbite
Felix Obuah, a former Chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers state and one-time Sole Administrator of the Rivers state Waste Management Agency, during the administration of Gov. Nyesom Wike, and now minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, under the incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, appears to be watching on the sideline what is happening in the oil Rivers ate.
Obuah, an alumni of Sancta Maria High School , Omoku, Headquarters of , Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Local Government Area, ONELGA, of Rivers State, An LGA, that had produced the likes of Peter Odili, a Medical Doctor, as a former governor of the state between 1999-2007, was said to have had a close working relationship with the all-powerful Wike.
His good working relationship with the untouchable PDP big wig, may have informed why the Omoku born politician was said to have started nursing the ambition to be the next governor of the state in 2023. He got it wrong.
Unknown to him, the all-powerful Ikwerre born Politician, had thrown his weight behind the 50-year-old Simanialayi Fubara, the state Accountant General, to be his successor. He may have had his reason for doing so in order to have the state in his firm grip.
This may have informed why he had worked for Obuah’s defeat, at the party primaries in 2022.
It was not surprising why the Opobo/Nkro, born Accountant, won the PDP governorship race with 721 votes to Obuah’s two votes, forcing him to lie politically low in the state.
Until the duo went their separate ways, Obuah , was said to have used his time and resources to checkmate the opposition forces in the state led by Rotimi Amaechi, a former governor of the state and ex- minister of Transportation during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration, forcing him and his loyalists to decamp to the ruling APC. Wike had criticized him for working against a state that threw him up politically but appears to be doing the worst now. The question on the lips of most people: Is Wike, a friend or enemy of Rivers people going his actions towards a sitting governor of the state over the year to cripple through the Court process to cripple the Administration not a move to stifle development?
Many believes that the FCT minister became a power broker in the PDP, as the sole financier of the party when he was the governor of Rivers state, as the likes of Vice President Atiku Abubakar, during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Administration, Senator Bukola Saraki, a -one-time governor of Kwara state and ex-Senate President had defected to APC to achieve their Presidential ambitions in 2015.
The defection of the two powerful politicians and other power brokers from the PDP to APC, and the formation of the New People Democratic Party, NPDP, by another disgruntled group from the PDP, may have given the former Rivers state governor the ample opportunity to hijack the party machinery at the national level and form the G-5 governors, to dictate how the party should be run. It was not surprising why he has plotted his way to become the party Presidential Candidate in 2023. He had lost out to former Vice President, who had returned to the party but took it in bad faith and ready to fight back within the party.
As a politician, he was said to have joined forces with Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state, who incidentally was the 2023, Presidential Candidate of the APC, and he won the election. It was therefore not surprising why he was compensated with the ministerial position as the FCT, minister but still remains controversial.
The FCT, minister, who is now a political ally of President Tinubu, of the ruling APC, may have known that he has wronged the multi-millionaire Obuah, and his old friend and ally that he had secretly visited him at Omoku, in 2024.
Despite pleas by the minister that the visit should be low key and a closely guided secret, but an unprecedented crowd, including dancing groups from different parts of the Local Government Area and its environs had trooped out in their hundreds to welcome him turning it into a political carnival.
The minister who was said to have been accompanied on the visit to the Obuah’s country home at Omoku , with some of his loyalists including Heneiken Lokobiri, minister of state, Petroleum Resources, Oil, under the present Tinubu’s Administration, Temipre Sylva, former minister of state, Petroleum Resources, during Buhari’s Administration, Senator Samuel Anyanwu and Victor Giadom , appears to have seen the visit as a home coming.
The PDP stalwart may have taken advantage of the visit to the former Rivers state PDP Chairman to reveal that he and his team had met their own obligations under the accord signed before the President before participating in his government.
Political observers believes that Wike’s decision to visit his old friend at Omoku, was basically to reconcile their differences and plan for the 2027, governorship election in Rivers’ state. They noted that he may have agreed to reconcile with Obuah, his old friend because he had lost out in the power game with Gov. Fubara, in dictating who gets what in the state, projects to be expected and where it will be sited and the contractor that will do job.
A source had confirmed that the FCT minister and his entourage visit to the country home of Obuah at Oomoku, was necessitated after the closed door meeting between the Nigerian President and the embattled Rivers state 50 year-old governor to resolve the political impasse in the state.
As a prelude to ensuring that the mistakes of 2023, will not repeat itself in 2027, may have informed why he had facilitated the appointment of Obuah, the former PDP, Chairman in the state as Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, at the FCT, by President Tinubu.
The political crisis in Rivers’ state appears to have taken a turn for the worse as the embattled Rivers state governor may not have known peace since the return of the 26 members of the state House of Assembly who owe their loyalty to Wike, the FCT minister, had returned to the House based on the Supreme Court Ruling.
Fubara, the suspended Rivers state governor had alluded to the outcome of the meeting with President Tinubu to resolve the crisis in the state in an apparent response to his six months suspension in office by the President in the first instance to calm frayed nerves when he stopped at saying that there was no basis for his removal from office.
The suspended Rivers state governor was emphatic that after Mr. President’s intervention to resolve the Rivers political impasse, he has implemented the agreed terms reached in good faith, including welcoming back Commissioners who had previously resigned their appointment on their own volition to avoid being cut in the cross-fire.
He had said that he had complied with the Supreme Court’s ruling to allow members of the state House of Assembly who were alleged to have dumped the ruling PDP, in the state and decamped to the Opposition APC, to return to the Hose and continue their Constitutional duties to foster peace in the state but the reverse was the case.
But the President, who, many believes have had his mindset to apply the sledge hammer on the governor could not take it. He had lambasted the embattled Rivers state governor for ‘’frantically working to collapse the state’s Legislature’’, noting that in the circumstance, having soberly reflected and evaluated the political situation in the Niger Delta state and the refusal of the governor and his deputy, to make a request to him, as the President and Commander-In—Chief , C-In-C, of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to issue this information as required by section 305, sub section 5 of the 1999 Constitution as amended , ‘’to declare a state of emergency in Rivers state’’ with effect from today, Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
The President was said to have alluded to the disturbing violence in the state, including explosions and vandalization of oil pipelines linked to the political crisis in the state. The vandalization of the oil pipelines was said to have come a day after the 26 Lawmakers in the state , loyal to the FCT minister , served a notice of gross misconduct on the embattled governor, kickstarting the process of his impeachment, which would have thrown the state into deeper political crisis.
Residents of PortHarcourt, the Rivers state Capital, had confirmed that there have been increased turmoil in the state since the notice of impeachment signed members of the 32 -member Hose loyal to Wike, the immediate past governor of the state and FCT minister.
The explosion, was said to have rocked a section of the Trans Niger Pipeline in Bodo Community in Gokana Local Government Area of the state on the night of Monday, March, 17, 2025. The Nigeria President, who had blamed the political violence on the political actors in the state, had singled out Gov. Fubara for criticisms for his failure to take steps to address the situation as the Chief Security officer of the state.
Prior to the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers state by President Tinubu, and the appointment of Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas, rtd , a former Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, during Buhari’s Administration as the new Administrator of the state, former President Obasanjo had jetted out to Port Harcourt to see the embattled Gov, Fubara, where he was said to have issued a fiery directive to him to take the bold initiative to take absolute control of the crisis in the state political crisis.
The report making the rounds was that the former President had had advised the suspended governor to withdraw security personnel from all Rivers state House of Assembly members, shut down key institutions like, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, now baptized Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, with the signing into Law of the Petroleum Industry Bill by for President Buhari in August, 2021, and Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. He was said to also advised him to dismantle all the forces threatening his Authority in the state to clip their wings but the advice fail on deaf ears.
.Gov. Fubara , may have had at the back of his mind that he was not humiliated out of office by Wike and the 26 Lawmakers, who are loyal to him in the state House of Assembly .He had given out his report card for the over one year he has been in office’’ to include ‘’good governance, payment of civil servants salaries as and when do, and execution of people-oriented projects in different parts of the state’’, noting that the state under his Leadership, ‘’the state is ‘’safe, secure and peaceful’’.
Nigerians are watching to see how the political crisis in Rivers state will end as there is palpable calm in Opobo/Nkro , the suspended Rivers state governor local Government Area and tension in PortHarcout. This sis where the Vice Admiral Ibas, the new Administrator of Rivers state have to stamp his foot down to ensure that the trouble makers in the state are put under close watch.
The retired Naval Chief must not have anything to do with the suspended Lawmakers, the FCT minister, believed to be piloting the crisis in his home state or the suspended governor to avoid being labelled as being partisan that may deepen the crisis in the state.
The President has sounded it loud and clear that he cannot make new Laws but can formulations for the good running of the state that has to be approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC, and signed into Law by him, in his capacity as the Nigerian President.
