On Tuesday, November 27, President Bola Tinubu, rolled out the drums to lead Nigerians into high-hearted celebration of coming into stream of the Port Harcourt Refinery, in Rivers State. He not only linked the feat to the determination of his government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to revamp the Nigerian economy, but added that Nigerians should expect more goodies.

For emphasis, the statement by Bayo Onanuga, his spokesman, conveying the President’s high enthusiasm, read: “With the successful revival of the Port Harcourt refinery, President Tinubu urges NNPC Limited to expedite the scheduled reactivation of both the second Port Harcourt refinery and the Warri and Kaduna refineries.

These efforts will significantly enhance domestic production capacity alongside the contributions of privately-owned refineries and make our country a major energy hub, with the gas sector also enjoying unprecedented attention by the administration. The President underscores his administration’s determination to repair the nation’s refineries, aiming to eradicate the disheartening perception of Nigeria as a major crude oil producer that lacks the ability to refine its own resources for domestic consumption.

Highlighting the values of patience, integrity, and accountability in the rebuilding of the nation’s infrastructure, President Tinubu calls upon individuals, institutions, and citizens entrusted with responsibilities to maintain focus and uphold trust in their service to the nation. In alignment with the Renewed Hope Agenda focused on shared economic prosperity for all, the President reaffirms his administration’s commitment to achieving energy sufficiency, enhancing energy security, and boosting export capacity for Nigeria.”

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For this, Tinubu was full of praises for Muhammadu Buhari, his predecessor – remember he was the one who secured the $1.5billion loan to start the rehabilitation project in 2021 – and Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (GMD-CEO) of the NNPCL, “whose unwavering dedication and commitment were instrumental in overcoming challenges to achieve this milestone.”

But even as the echoes of Tinubu’s superlative words were still reverberating in the horizon, the huge balloon that carried the message soon went burst, with the information that the entire development was a scam and that Nigerians should not expect any drop of refined product from the facility, because there was none.

For emphasis, the entity was still comatose – dead as dodo, as Nigerians say. This damning revelation came from the community hosting the facility, which claimed that it would have been the first that would roll out the drums to celebrate were the narrative given out by the NNPCL and by extension the government credible, but now felt it a duty to alert Nigerians at the same time that they were being conned – as in swindled – hornswoggled.

Timothy Igbere, Timothy Mgbesa, Secretary of Alesa Community Stakeholders, the River State host of the refinery, in a detailed narrative, painted the ugly picture of the facility to underscore how Nigerians were being taken for a ride, while appearing on The Morning Show, the breakfast programme on Arise News Television on Thursday.

Hear him: “For an agency that is holding the oil industry in trust for Nigeria, they shouldn’t put out some of these information that are not true. What happened on Tuesday is that the NNPCL is under pressure and went out to tell Nigerians that the old refinery has started working. I can tell you that the GMD or the CEO was in Port Harcourt since Monday. The other MDs were also in Port Harcourt.

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“The MD of Port Harcourt Refinery and the those heading the operations department, they didn’t sleep throughout Monday because of these whole events they had on Tuesday. What was the true picture? The old refinery is built with its own utilities, different from the new Port Harcourt Refinery. In terms of tank farms, the tank farm of serving the old Port Harcourt Refinery has a different loading gantry at the depot.

“The party that was held on Tuesday, was held at the new loading gantry that is directly connected to the new refinery. How does that work? It is impossible. They went there because the storage facility for the old refinery had some old stock that has been there for over three years. So, what they had, they released that stock, loaded six trucks and then televised it to Nigerians that that is the production from the old Port Harcourt Refinery.

“That is not true. I like Nigerians to know the truth. But they don’t need to believe me, because Nigerians, no matter how you paint the true pictures to them, they get sentimental, they get tribal, they want to whip up sentiments and all that. The product that was loaded – and let me be on record that it was only six trucks and it was not the new refined products from the old refinery.

“Let me shock you, if we’re celebrating that the Port Harcourt Refinery is already functional, how come they loaded only four trucks of the product? The whole day starting from 7am that worked resumed at the old Port Harcourt Refinery, it was only four trucks that were loaded till about 8.35 – only four trucks.

“Yet, they said it was automated. How can you have a truck under a bay for more than six hours under an automated system? Back in the years when we had manual system, it didn’t take more than 45minutes to load one truck. You can ask from any operational staff or any person that has been at the depot area.

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“Manual system loads a truck for about 45 minutes. So, fully automated, fully rehabilitated – and then you tell us it’s 70 per cent operational – and then you tell us you’re loading four trucks for a whole day under the loading gantry for more than six to seven hours. Who are we deceiving? I think that’s a clear picture of the whole event at the Port Harcourt depot and by extension, the Port Harcourt Refinery.”

Nick Agule, an energy expert, who also on the same programme, echoed the same mantra, stating: “This refinery NNPC is running is owned by Nigerians. We are the owners of this asset and NNPCL is our servant. They are our workers and they have to report back to us in the most transparent way the situation with this refinery, not only the Port Harcourt refinery, but with the three others. I can say that this is not happening.

“First and foremost, the statement that was issued by the NNPCL announcing the commencement of production at the old refinery, did not carry anything. It was that production had started and that was it. It was when the controversy started to be generated on social media and other platforms that NNPCL issued a second statement and in this statement, they provided more data.

“The point here is why did they not able to mention to us the owners of this refinery. Why did they have to wait for this controversy to be generated before they gave us additional data. So, I will say that as it stands now, Nigerians are right in doubting. Nigerians are correct and I believe we’re being pragmatic if the NNPCL is not coming across to them in the way they desire.”

The NNPCL, has however clapped back. In a quick riposte, Olufemi Soneye, dismissed the Igbere as grossly ignorant, insisting that production at the facility was almost at full capacity, though he fell short of telling Nigerians why the company stated that 200 trucks carrying products were loaded from there while the number as actually less than 10.

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Hear Soneye, Chief Communications Officer: “He (Mgbere) claimed that the old Port Harcourt Refinery was only operating skeletally and was not processing PMS. His proof was that the PMS truck-out was done at the gantry of the new Port Harcourt Refinery as against the gantry of the old Port Harcourt Refinery.

“This betrays his scant knowledge of the operations of the refinery. The old and new Port Harcourt Refineries have since been integrated with one single terminal for product load-out.

“They share common utilities like power and storage tanks. This means that storage tanks and loading gantry which he claimed belongs to the new Port-Harcourt Refinery can also receive products from the Old Port Harcourt Refinery.”

Now, the latest indication, suggest that the community was actually right. Not only that there are no 200 trucks being loaded, the loading bay at the refinery is actually empty, but the entire complex is said to be without much life.

The PUNCH, which took a tour of the facility, returned with a verdict of inactivity, with the only explanation being that water was being drained from the storage tanks of the refinery so that new products would be pumped into them by the time full operation resumed.

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It is up to Nigerians to choose what to believe. But for us at the Whirlwindnews.com.ng, the position of the NNPCL requires more than a axiomatic pinch of salt to accept, while that of the Alasa people seems too irresistible and seducing to ignore. We will be profusely glad if we are proved wrong. But for now, there is no reason not to reject the former as a cock and bull story.

Why do we adopt this attitude? Right from the outset, the APC has proven strong deficiency in credibility and truth-telling, but maintains optimal capacity and tendency for deceit and lying to the people. Pray! What has the APC touched in Nigeria that they have not destroyed. What promise have they kept?

Take the instant case. On countless occasions they had claimed that the same Port Harcourt Refinery had been fixed, starting from the days of Ibe Kachukwu as Minister of State for Petroleum Resources under Buhari.

Remember the days of Buhari’s Body Language (BBL), when the world was told that fuel would start gushing out from the facility in a matter of days by just the President directing his gaze towards Port Harcourt. Morning came and evening came and the magic did not happen.

Even since Tinubu took over, some 18 months ago, the commencement of production at the facility has been promised and postponed more than five times. Why should we believe now that Nigerians are not being scammed as the Alasa community is alleging?

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From the wacky story so far, a day might come when officials could store imported petrol in the tank farms at night and discharge same during the day as fuel from the facility. We can no longer put anything beyond these people.

What we do not know is whether Tinubu is aware of what is going on under his nose. But it would be tragic whether he knows and allows the scam to continue in order to cover up the complete disaster the APC has turned out. It would also be a greater tragedy if he does not! Terribly so!

Nigerians for the better part of last week, were treated to another round of entertainment, though of the usual macabre hue. On stage were Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s longest serving leader in history – three years as military Head of State and eight years as civilian President and the incumbent, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The curtain opened with the former President stepping out to play the character with which he has established himself in the consciousness of Nigeria for decades now, whether in or out of office. He spoke out again, when everyone else was silent. The former President, kept a date as he mounted the rostrum to tell the entire world the story of today’s Nigeria.

As the Guest Speaker at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, Yale University New Haven, Connecticut, USA, on Saturday, November 15, 2024, Obasanjo once again, broke the somewhat unwritten law within the corps of the National Council of State, where leaders of Nigeria either in military or civilian garbs hold court and where official reticence and silence to state matters, have always been maintained as tradition.

Historically, Obasanjo has always been the deviant in keeping to this tradition, which in the main, is explained away as a way of not distracting the incumbent since they individually have direct channels of communication to offer their advice, but one reason, all the same which mostly fail to resonate with the people, especially in moments of extreme situations such as Nigeria is experiencing now.

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So, speaking on the topic: Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria, Obasanjo put a knife directly in the centre of the boil and delivered the message to what millions of Nigerians had known and been talking about for many months – the country is in dire straits – Nigeria is crumbling – Nigeria is failing! That message, obviously was for the global audience, because virtually everyone living in Nigeria at the moment can connect with it.

Of course, the culprit, the former President pointed to were Muhammadu Buhari, his mimic as both former military Head of State and civilian President, who left power to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in 2023. Both Buhari and Tinubu have run a relay of running the country on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) since 2015.

This period – 10 years short of few months, since May 29, 2015, Obasanjo summed up as disaster in his treatise before the world. With the systematic bastardisation of the polity through poor election, supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and a massively corrupt judiciary, he was unequivocal that Nigeria as a county had been firmly and officially captured by the two.

Regretting that the two had shown complete lack of ideas and absence of zeal in putting things right for the county, but instead demonstrated the direct opposite, he was also unequivocal about the direction the country was headed under Buhari, whom he named as Baba Go Slow and Tinubu, with the sobriquet – Emilokan – was determined – complete doom!

Hear him: “As we can see and understand, Nigeria’s situation is bad. The more the immorality and corruption of a nation, the more the nation sinks into chaos, insecurity, conflict, discord, division, disunity, depression, youth restiveness, confusion, violence, and underdevelopment.

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“That’s the situation mostly in Nigeria in the reign of Baba-go-slow and Emilokan. The failing state status of Nigeria is confirmed and glaringly indicated and manifested for every honest person to see through the consequences of the level of our pervasive corruption, mediocrity, immorality, misconduct, mismanagement, perversion, injustice, incompetence and all other forms of iniquity.”

In a dig understood to describe Tinubu’s iron grip since he left as Governor of Lagos State in 2007 and which he is apparently replicating in Nigeria as President, Obasanjo told his audience: “My military training and experience taught me that what you capture, you tend to hold under your sole control for as long as you can hold it. That is the case of one governor of a state who still holds the state captive in his pocket 25 years after being the governor of the state.”

Of course Tinubu, who would not allow the heavy laceration slide has since fired back, though not directly as Obasanjo, but through his various spokesmen, with his conclusion being that Obasanjo lacked the moral suasion to deliver such preachments as he was far guiltier as a bad leader, given his records between 1999 and 2007 when he held sway.

Bayo Onanuga, presidential spokesman, in a statement conveyed Tinubu’s clapback thus: “Brazen illegality and assault on the Constitution of Nigeria reached a disturbing height under the leadership of Chief Obasanjo. During Obasanjo’s era, the unconstitutional impeachment of four governors who belonged to his party occurred.

“The governors impeached by minority members of the Houses of Assembly were Joshua Dariye of Plateau, Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo, Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa. A man under whose watch all of these egregious infractions occurred should certainly not be the one to give any lecture on leadership and corruption. He should not be taken seriously as he reeks of profound hypocrisy of the worst form.”

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What is our position? We agree that both sides do not smell roses on all counts. Just as Tinubu observed, the Chinua Achebe Obasanjo copiously quoted as a model in his treatise during the US outing, rejected the highest national honours awarded to him, referencing the bad behaviours of the former President as his major reason.

Citing his hands in the massive acts of brigandage in Anambra State where he hailed, leading to the kidnap of Chris Ngige, then sitting governor and the burning of the assets under the nose of state agents, Achebe had told Obasanjo: “Nigeria’s condition today under your watch is…too dangerous for silence. I must register my disappointment and protest by declining to accept the high honour awarded me in the 2004 honours list.”

But in comparison to the Obasanjo era, Tinubu, as they say, is something else. At no time in the history of Nigeria has the country witnessed what is happening to it today. Many Nigerians have dubbed it official wickedness or more poignantly in the local parlance – shege banza. They say Tinubu is deliberately and intentionally supervising official blitzkrieg on Nigerians. We could not agree more or less. There is no other way to describe the situation.

What we cannot establish is why? Of course, the official explanation for the uncanny policies which were unleashed on the country even before the ink on which Tinubu signed his signature on the documents declaring him President dried up, is that he is reforming the Nigerian economy. But much as few people would disagree on such a need, the more compelling, groundswell position is that Tinubu’s is a government of self and deceit.

Adewole Adebayo, presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in the 2023 election seemed to have captured the meaning better when he told his host on Arise News Television that Tinubu’s government is one in which the officials see Nigerians as customers in a business transaction with the intention of milking them consistently for profit. This is one of the most fitting depictions.

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Yes! Obasanjo may have represented the depiction Tinubu attempted to tag him with and even more. But even his worst outing pales into insignificance in comparison. In terms of magnitude of impact, it is like comparing eczema to cancer. Obasanjo, still left a room for the welfare of Nigerians in all his policies and would never have allowed some of the actions and activities that have not only manifested, but pumped up under the nose of Tinubu.

Take for example the oil theft currently going on in the Niger Delta. Would it have happened under Obasanjo that half of the proceeds of Nigeria’s oil production ends up in private pockets? But this is the scourge currently besetting Nigeria. Imagine what the recovery of this stolen wealth could have done to the economy. It could have taken care of the economic needs of the country, which Tinubu claims to be solving by plunging the people into such untold hardship.

Nigeria is the only country under the aegis of Organasation of Petrol Exporting Countries (OPEC), which did not profit from the different global events that shot up oil prices, in recent years from the COVID-19 to the wars in Ukraine and most recently, the Middle East owing substantially to the activities of these oil thieves.

Instead of the 2.5million barrels per day OPEC quota, the country has remained at 1.3million per day production level for years on and on, while the rest are blown up in the wind. This is even when the usual economic sabotage from militants who blow up oil facilities in the creeks or kidnap oil workers, which used to account for such low production, have since disappeared.

During the period Obasanjo depicted, the world has heard some of the wackiest stories beyond the contemplation to human mind. Imagine a ship fully-loaded with stolen crudes, after managing as usual to escape the “vigilant eyes” of the Nigerian security apparatchik, being arrested in a foreign country and sent back to Nigeria. The expectation would be that the ship would be seized, its contents returned or sold and not only that the crew are arrested, but a massive onslaught would therefrom be unleashed to fish out others in the chain of the syndicate.

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But what did the world hear? The said ship with the content of crude buried in its bowels, was reportedly set ablaze. Till date nothing else has been heard. Not even those who were reportedly arrested inside the ship have been brought to trial not to talk of extending the dragnet to include capturing those pulling the strings from behind the scene and ultimately tighten the noose to asphyxiate the obvious syndicate. In fact, after the initial noise, the matter ha since died down. if anything ever happened thereafter, nobody knows.

Now, anyone slightly above the imbecilic fringes, would agree that stopping the massive stealing of Nigerian oil and ramping up the production level is where any plausible reform ought to start. But what do you have? Tinubu and his men, having promised to continue where Buhari stopped, believes the only way to his own idea of reform is to squeeze the last air from Nigerians, as his policies indicate.

Yes! Obasanjo in his eight years in office actually made the constant increase of price of petroleum products a state policy. But not even in his craziest of moments did he contemplate what Tinubu did. Minutes after taking the oath of office, Tinubu unilaterally and some say, whimsically announced the end of subsidy on the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol. This shot the pump price from N189 to N560. In the last few months, the price has since shot-up several times to the present N1,200 or more.

The immediate reaction was not only witnessed in the instant concomitant jump in the prices of commodities, but the progressive rise in over the month so much that a bottle of groundnuts that cost N120, and a crate of egg that were sold for N300, have since jumped to N3,000 and N4,500 respectively. Even garri that used to be the last hope of the common man in Nigeria, has now become a luxury with the cost jumping to more than 500 per cent in recent months.

Obasanjo would never have allowed the level of provincial and nepotistic government Tinubu is running today, which is beyond the mimic of what Buhari introduced and which he has taken to a new high. A situation where the now ubiquitous Lagos Boys have completely taken over the show and are looming writ-large is not only out of the question, but totally impossible under the former President.

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Tinubu had said in his reply: “Brazen illegality and assault on the Constitution of Nigeria reached a disturbing height under the leadership of Chief Obasanjo. During Obasanjo’s era, the unconstitutional impeachment of four governors who belonged to his party occurred. The governors impeached by minority members of the Houses of Assembly were Joshua Dariye of Plateau, Rashidi Ladoja of Oyo, Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa. A man under whose watch all of these egregious infractions occurred should certainly not be the one to give any lecture on leadership and corruption. He should not be taken seriously as he reeks of profound hypocrisy of the worst form.”

Ironically, Nuhu Ribadu, former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who Obasanjo used to perpetrate the said heist on the governors, is today the National Security Adviser (NSA), in charge of all the security architecture in the country. What a contradiction in terms! The implication is obvious, even to the unwary.

While we repeat without equivocation that we are on all fours with Obasanjo on all the issues raised and we are greatly appalled by the tenure of Tinubu, who instead of withdrawing to his inner room, doing some reassessment and probably showing some remorse and retracing his steps and cause some redeeming actions to take place, is not only assuming a dismissive mien but engaging a combative gear.

These, we dare say, will come to naught. No one can fight the truth. No matter the nature of combustive language or gragra fight, lies will never become the truth. Obasanjo has told the truth. Incidentally, when he was in government, Tinubu and the others who formed the bulk of the opposition, told him the same truth about the impunity and bad behaviour of his government. Now, it is his turn.

But the difference is that while the Obasanjo era posted the greatest moments in recent Nigerian history where the economy grew in leaps and bounds, while that era saw Nigeria as the investment destination of the world and while the economy was the largest in Africa, under Buhari and Tinubu the reverse is the case.

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It is not only that Nigeria is hosting the flag as the poorest nation in the world, it has also assumed the inglorious toga as one of the four most corrupt nations. If things continue to move progressively down the slope as it is currently, there is no doubt that even before the last days of his four-year tenure, Nigeria would have eventually attained its destination as a failed state or worse as Obasanjo predicted.

The answer is not in engaging in hiring attack dogs and unleashing them to real or imaginary enemies or stepping into the ring against the former President. Tinubu must copy what Obasanjo did. One of them purge himself of the iniquity of parochialism and nepotism. He must also strip himself of the arrogance of an untouchable.

To start with, he must retrieve governance from those he has handed it over and ensure a more open, global and futuristic government. There are many Nigerians capable of doing the job. A situation where more than 80 per cent of the government appointments are given to Yoruba people – nay – The Lagos Boys – must be rescinded and must never be allowed to return.

Again, Obasanjo would never have borrowed to sponsor consumption. Obasanjo would never have bought vehicles for members of the National Assembly from proceeds of loans borrowed from other countries – or renovate the house of the Vice President or buy vehicles for his own wife or a yacht. No! He would never have done that.

Obasanjo showed himself a Nigerian, Tinubu is showing himself a Yoruba man. In fact Obasanjo cannot even be closeted in the Nigerian garb. He is more of a global citizen. So, in terms of reckoning both are kilometres apart. The question is in how many global stages, such as the one that hosted Obasanjo would Tinubu appear tomorrow when he leaves government? The clear realisation of this is enough to redirect the thinking of the President.

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President Tinubu must realise that stepping into the ring with Obasanjo over matters as clear as those he raised in the US is a recipe for failure. It is even worse when such an engagement takes the shape of measuring height with the former President. No matter how fat a butterfly grows, it can never be seen as a bird and no matter a lizard grows, it can never become a crocodile. That is our view!

The ugly drama currently being displayed on the stage of the political theatre in Rivers State ought to be disconcerting to all Nigerians and all lovers of democracy across the world. It is a tragi-comedy that foretells of greater danger to the entire country given the implications that could be gleaned from the nuances surrounding the sad episode with regards to the nation’s political development and the wider firmament – democratic ethos.

We are troubled not just by the development alone, we are saddened greatly by the fact that today’s dramatis personae are unwilling either to look at history or are determined not to learn from it and therefore replicating the same acts, just the way they were played decades ago, which resulted in disastrous outcomes.

Yes, while much of the reasons for the failure of the various attempts to grow Nigerian democracy – believed to be the major trigger to waking up the sleeping giant many have described the country as, could be linked to the activities of individuals, especially the power mongers that came at various times – the greater culprits, had always been the institutions.

No other institution is as culpable in this outside the police – the most visible of the security agencies – and the judiciary. They rank the highest, and when added to the electoral umpires who conducted elections at various stages, no one needs look further. They are the vector carrying the dangerous disease that has afflicted Nigerian democracy or what looks like the caricature of it as we are witnessing presently.

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Sadly, nothing seems to have changed from what happened in the past. Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, the French journalist, who wrote in 1849: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – the more things change, the more they remain the same – could not have had anything in mind than the Nigerian picture – past and present. The major factor at the root of this malaise had always been the independence of the institutions.

1n 1962, George Sodeinde Sowemimo, presiding over the trial of Obafemi Awolowo, failed to let the former Premier of the Western Region and opposition leader in the First Republic go home a free man, but sent him to jail, because he was constrained by weight of the interplay of extraneous factors between the federal authorities and the regional forces controlled by the late sage.

Here is what he said in the now famous – my hands are tied – speech before sentencing him: “Whatever others may say, this is my personal view. I am not speaking as a judge but as a Nigerian. Here we have one of the first Premiers of the autonomous region standing trial. If you were the only one before me, I would have felt that it was enough for you to have undergone the strain of the trial. I would have asked you to go. But I am sorry, I cannot do so now because my hands are tied.”

Nigerians now know the consequences of Awolowo’s incarceration. In fact, many people swear that it was the main reason for the January 15, 1966 bloody coup, which swept away Nigeria’s first attempt at self-governance. Obviously, the subsequent degeneration of the polity including Nigeria descending into an internecine civil war that clamed an estimated four million lives, did not teach any lesson.

For if it did, the politicians who came between 1978 and 1983, would not have upped the ante in bad democratic behaviour, which resulted in their being excused by the military once again. Again, unfortunately, both the police and the judiciary constituted the tag-team in that outcome. They completed what the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), which is today’s version of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) started.

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With the judiciary’s infamous 12-two-thirds of 19 states verdict and Sunday Adewusi’s Mobile Police team, especially, providing cover to ensure that the oddity stood, the stage was set for the further degeneration in the system, so that by the time 1983 happened with its notorious landslide victories, nobody was left in doubt that Nigerian democracy, or what was left of it had gone kaput completely.

Who would have forgotten the role of the police and the judiciary in the political volcano that enveloped Anambra State a few years ago? Who could have forgotten how Raphael Ige, an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), led a team of his men to practically abduct Chris Ngige, a sitting governor from his desk.

But for fate which played a fast one in saving the situation, nobody knows till date how that heist would have ended, The ex-governor was already being spirited to the land of the unknown. It took that miraculous call he made to Atiku Abubakar, then Vice President, through the phone he borrowed from Igwe Peter Nwokike Anugwu of Mbaukwu, who chanced by to stall the horrible macabre dance.

Today, like the scenes from the same reel, Nigerians are being suffered with a similar movie. Few weeks ago it was Edo State. Today it is Rivers. The relay race between the judiciary and the police and vice versa, since the Rivers schism started unfolding between Siminalaiye Fubara, the Governor and Nyesom Wike, his predecessor and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), seems to be getting to a crescendo.

Like the Anambra episode, the battle is all about godfatherism – a phenomenon, which has assumed a completely different meaning in Nigerian than other lands where it is being practiced. Again, like in other states, it is also about the seizure and control of the so-called “political structure,” an euphemism for control of power and tools for sharing corrupt patronages, largesse and dividends.

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What is the issue in the instant case? Like other states across the federation currently in frantic run to beat the deadline for enthroning elected officers or lose revenues from the Federation Account, Rivers obviously did not want to be caught napping. So, Fubara had scheduled the Rivers’ edition for Saturday, October 5, 2024.

But Wike and his group, seem sworn to scuttle the move. What did they do? The courts, of course! There, they met Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, who acceded to their request. Specifically, in a case filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) he ordered INEC not to release the voters register to conduct the election.

What was the reason? He agreed with them that the voters register ought to have been displayed for claims and objections 90 days before the election. Now picture this. On July 19, the same Lifu, had ordered the same INEC not to release the same register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), for the same purpose.

So, if the said register was not released as Lifu directed through that ex-parte order in July, how would the RSIEC have attained the 90 days threshold? What then is the state supposed to do in the face of the obvious threat that its councils would be denied the revenue to conduct their affairs? What then is the fate of the millions of people that would be so affected?

Answers to those questions are still buried in the sands. What is left is that Fubara, obviously desperate to save the situation, seems to have found some loophole to navigate out of the troubling maze. Among some of his reasons for going ahead with the election, regardless, was that he already had the register even before his traducers went to court. So, the horse, for him had actually bolted out of the stable.

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Now, if indeed peace was actually part of the bouquet the naysayers are bringing to the table, what is wrong with returning to the court to test Fubara’s claim after the election? Surely proving that the governor lied, would obviously be enough ground to declare the process inadequate and therefore nullify the election, would it not. So, why resort to this strong-arm tactics?

Yet, as observers are still chewing the implications of their streak of successes at the courts, including Monday’s direct orders that they must stay away from the polls, the police interpretation appears even more astounding. Yes, the court prohibited the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Department of State Services (DSS) from providing security for the election. But that is where it stopped.

So, on what ground did the police stand in their attempt to take over the RSIEC office and insist that the polls must not hold? Quo warranto? That was the question Fubara put to the police authorities on Friday, when he practically placed his life on the line and dared the police to kill him first before stopping the election. We join in asking this very important question.

Unfortunately, Kayode Egbetokun the police IG appears not in the mood to look in the direction in his determination to execute the matter his own way. Not even the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), a clearing house for lawyers in Nigeria is in agreement with the IG. It said so on Friday. Afam Osigwe, NBA President, particularly expressed the disgust of the body to the entire saga.

Hear him: “We agree with the statement issued by the Chairmen of NBA Branches as we find it deeply troubling that the Police would brazenly issue a statement that they would shirk their constitutional responsibility of providing security in Rivers State in purported compliance with an order of court. Even if a court has directed the Police not to work with the Electoral Commission on Rivers State, nothing says the Police should not provide security for peace and order of Rivers State.

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“The refusal to provide security is not only unconstitutional but also illegal, immoral, and a dangerous signal that invites lawlessness and undermines democracy. It is, in every sense, a direct attack on the democratic rights of the people of Rivers State and, by extension, Nigeria as a whole. In fact, it threatens our democracy.

“The Nigerian Bar Association condemns, in the strongest possible terms, any attempt to undermine the scheduled elections in the 22 Local Government Areas of Rivers State by refusing to provide security. We will continue to closely monitor the situation as it unfolds. We call on all security agencies to rise to the challenge of protecting lives, property, and democracy during this critical time.

“Furthermore, we urge the Inspector General of Police to launch an immediate investigation into these troubling report that Policemen sought to cart away electoral materials and ensure that any errant officers involved are swiftly and appropriately disciplined, regardless of whose interests are affected. The NBA has also taken note of the conflicting judgments from the Rivers State High Court and the Federal High Court in Abuja concerning the scheduled Local Government elections. It is deeply disheartening and amounts to judicial rascality that courts of concurrent jurisdiction are issuing contradictory orders on the same matter.” We could not have agreed more.

The consoling part was that the players caught in the ugly incidents were punished. In the case of Anambra, Ige was booted out of the police immediately the heist against Ngige failed. Not only him, Wilson Egbo Egbo and Stanley Nnaji, two judges caught in the web of the Anambra crisis were equally excused from their judicial duties abruptly. Not even their powerful godfathers could save them.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in power appeared to spare some thought for their image. But this obviously is not so under the APC, a party of the so-called democrats, who had taken over to entrench democratic ethos in Nigeria.  Nobody seems to hear anything about punishment for bad behaviour.

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Interestingly and ironically, the eventual triumph of Ngige over his traducers, seemed to have signalled the new face of politics in Anambra. It marked the successful dislodging of the godfather syndrome in the state, which hitherto made the perfect example for showcasing governance failure in Nigeria. Today the opposite is the case. Who knows how the case of Rivers might turn out?

Fubara actually mentioning the state on Friday while speaking to reporters in Port Harcourt over the development appears an indication that he is attempting to recreating the Anambra magic. Quite heartening should that be the case. Anambra remains the test-kit for the good, the bad and the ugly of Nigerian politics and the triumph of one over the other.

For Egbetokun, history also beckons. He ought to have quietly left the police on September 4, when he attained the mandatory 60 years retirement. Had he resisted the lure of office, he might have saved himself from becoming another Sowemimo. Even after becoming the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Sowemimo practically etched his name across the pages of history.

Many remember his my hands are tied declaration today than his attaining the position of the CJN. Egbetokun still has a lee-way to navigate himself out of the airtight cage politicians seem to have forced him. He could insist on toeing the line of resistance by sticking to the best practices in patriotic move to save Nigeria, or throw in the towel, damn the consequences to save his name from further damage. Yet, still, he could go the whole hog and end it all in predictable tragedy! His call!

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