Editorial
Tinubu’s final joker on Rivers: No! Heavens won’t fall!
When Nyesom Wike, former Governor of Rivers State, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), beat his chest and pointedly declared that heavens would not fall if Siminalayi Fubara, his successor in office is impeached, he was not far from what eventually happened on Tuesday with President Bola Tinubu declaring a State of Emergency in the state. He was actually confirming what must have been discussed behind closed doors.
Let nobody be deceived. The action of the President is premeditated, direct as it is deliberate. The development is not only a way of testing the waters, but meant to send a clear message in the manner Ibrahim Babangida clearly spoke some 32 years ago during the June 12, 1993 saga – we are not only in government, we are in power.
Tinubu, in his opening statement, said: “Fellow Nigerians, I feel greatly disturbed at the turn we have come to regarding the political crisis in Rivers State. Like many of you, I have watched with concern the development with the hope that the parties involved would allow good sense to prevail at the soonest, but all that hope burned out without any solution to the crisis.”
Now, if anyone goes to bed with this platitudinous statement, believing it to be true, it means that the person is a stranger, who has just emerged from years of solitary life in a cave and thus unable to grasp the events in Nigeria, at least in the last three years or more or the person is completely bereft or an outright imbecile.
All the President needed do if truly he is ashamed of what was happening in Rivers as he claimed was to tell Wike to mind his job and leave Fubara alone. In other words, he could have solved the Rivers crisis within seconds. But he did not do that because of an obvious hidden agenda.
We do not believe the President and we dare say, no sane Nigerian would believe him either. Instead, we see the development concerning Rivers is an elaborately crafted political façade – a well-choreographed scheme – a manipulative macabre dance – all aimed at proving how firmly the fate of Nigerian is now firmly in the hands of the power players in Abuja – pure and simple.
We believe those who infer that the State of Emergency option, is the joker being played as alternative to impeachment, which would be a tedious route, given the touted refusal by the Chief Judge of Rivers State to soil his name by acquiescing to the unwholesome plot of impeachment. It is even said that the route is harder because there is also a court order barring the group of 27 lawmakers led by Martin Amaewhule as Speaker from commencing Fubara’s impeachment, obtained since 2023, which had not been vacated.
The implication being that the order must first be vacated, before the process of removal could begin and from given the slow pace of the legal matters in Nigeria, it could take several months, if not years to discharge that order, given that it could move from the lower court to the Supreme Court. This would ultimately defeat the purpose of the ant-Fubara forces.
The sad reality is that the All Progressives Congress (APC), has since captured Nigeria. The phenomenon Nigeria is experiencing today started with former President, Muhammadu Buhari, who destroyed virtually all institutions of state. With his penchant for playing dump to all national issues no matter how serious, he had launched a devastating war on these institutions.
To Buhari, the laws of the land meant nothing. He either pretended not to know or simply ignored it. So, it was under him that the tenures of Service Chiefs in the military, the paramilitary and the police, were extended well after the officially recognised retirement limits either by age or years of service.
Buhari it was who ensured that National Assembly practically became a lame duck. Yes, the same NASS of the late Chuba Okadigbo as Senate President and Ghali Umar Na’Abba as Speaker, who stood up to then President Olusegun Obasanjo – of Ken Nnamani and Dimeji Bankole, who effectively killed the much-touted Third Term Agenda of the former President – that was the same NASS that lay on the floor for Buhari to step on them.
Immediately the tenure of Bukola Saraki and Yakubu, who emerged Senate President and Speaker by default and gave a semblance of the ideal relationship of checks and balances, between the executive and legislature ended, it was a free fall for the most critical arm of government.
Shamelessly Femi Gbajabiamila, who took over from Dogara, had told the world that the House of Representatives under him, was all willing to be a rubber stamp for the executive, while Ahmad Lawan, as Saraki’s successor, on his part declared that the Senate was ever ready to approve whatever Buhari wanted, because – wait for it – he meant well.
They did not stop at the legislature. The judiciary also had the bitter taste of Buhari’s understanding of power and its use. He did so in a manner hitherto unimaginable. Judges, hitherto believed to be next to God, became his guineapig for demonstrating. Some of their Lordships, including Supreme Court judges, were practically pulled out of their beds in the wee-hours of the night, some in their underpants and others completely in their birthday suits.
The operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), that were sent to do the job, never got round to explaining fully the raison d’etre for such unimaginable heist on a class of humans not even the military dared touch, except for some puerile and spurious charges of corruption, which eventually died their natural deaths. Expectedly, most of the judges, so targeted did not live long afterwards, not being able to bear the pain.
But that was not even enough. The case of Walter Onnoghen, the Chief Justice of Nigeria even became the highpoint of the strange phenomenon the former President designed and unleashed against this highly revered institution. The removal of the CJN by no other person but the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, one of the lowest officers in the wrung of judicial hierarchy, was like that fatal blow by the dagger of Brutus, which killed Julius Caeser.
Since then, the judiciary, like other institutions, have become as Nigerians say – something else. Virtually all their decisions subsequently were delivered under one term – unanimous judgement. The era of dissenting or minority judgements are gone, as judges obviously fearing to be targeted know better than travel that route.
Out of the window went the courage, which saw their Lordships play their part in telling Obasanjo, who because he thought Rotimi Amaechi’s emergence as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had K-Leg and so denied him the ticket that he did not have the final say. It was therefore due to this application of rare courage that Amaechi became governor in 2007.
Suddenly, the judiciary that made Andy Uba hold the record of an 11-day governor, when he was sent packing from the Government House Awka, for Peter Obi to complete his job, in the historic Tenure Interpretation Case, gave way to some strange arena from where issued some of the most outlandish pronouncements capable of making the devil himself flinch with envy.
Invariably, because Nigerians, hit by some strange disease that drained their hitherto vibrant energy with which they confronted the moving train with bare hands during the years of the military, became mere onlookers, Buhari not only finished his disastrous, locust-eaten years, but successfully handed over to Tinubu, who has since upped the ante.
Now, from the first day, in fact, few minutes after his inauguration, Nigerians have borne the level of suffering they never imagined ever existed. From N198 a litre, the price of fuel suddenly jumped to N550. Yet, the same Nigerians who virtually seized the air and forbade Goodluck Jonathan from breathing in 2012 for removing subsidy, watched helplessly as Tinubu hiked the cost of the same commodity beyond N1,000.
They watched as the value of Naira plummeted from N300 to a dollar to N1,700 in just few months of Tinubu’s government. Even the little attempts they made at demonstration to protest their parlous situation, were brutally put down and many of those who were unfortunate to fall into the hands of the goons unleashed after them, spent months in detention with charges of treason, the highest crime in the land hung on their necks.
From the foregoing therefore, it is obvious that Tinubu, having developed the formula for dealing with Nigerians, is confident that this unconstitutional and immoral act in Rivers will come and pass without any form of resistance.
Yes! Tinubu knows that what he has done is not covered by law. He knows that he lacks powers to remove a governor or elected representatives under the 1999 Constitution. He knows because he even criticised Goodluck Jonathan when he took the same measure in some states in the North in 2013, even without removing the governors.
But he has gone ahead, to stamp his authority, which is more important than any law of the land. Just like Buhari, he knows that nobody will challenge him. He knows the heavens will not fall. He has it all taken care of. Like he has conquered Lagos, Nigeria is now firmly in the hollow of his palms.
Unfortunately, Rivers will not be the only place. After it, will come the next and the next, such that by the time everything is counted, Nigerians will know that power, as Tinubu usually says, is not served a la carte. The proof of that will also be made manifest in 2027 when the tragedy will be completed. That will be the sadder part
It began less than 10 minutes after taking the oath of office. In his address to the nation, he uttered those three-letter words – subsidy is gone. The ink with which he signed the documents declaring him President was yet to dry.
That was it. From that moment, Nigerians have known nothing but poverty, tears and death. It was a declaration that came out of impulse rather than articulacy. It was not even contained in his original speech prepared for the occasion. But it sprouted out – from a rash, unthinking and impetuous mental construct.
But the effect was instant, the impact direct. From that moment, Nigerians have never known peace. Every thing took a cue. Minutes after, the news broke that the price of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol had jumped from N189 to N550. It was that instant. Today, it hovers around N1,500.
The effect: Within minutes, transportation cost quadrupled. So too, commodity prices. Caught unawares, marketers, who had earlier thought it was a day of the rains as customers rushed to their shops, soon became suspicious and then got wiser – these were not ordinary customers but smart alecs playing a fast one on them.
They stopped selling, retrieved the items they could from those who had not disappeared with their goods and closed shop to study the situation properly. Hours after, they responded. A plate of eba and soup, went up from N200 to N1,000. Prices hit the rooftops.
In fact, the vehicle transporting what used to be Nigeria, which had been moving at a horse and buggy pace in the days of Muhammadu Buhari, stopped abruptly, engaged the reverse gear and began galloping backwards. That has remained the ugly, parlous tale of the Tinubu days, since May 29, 2023.
Now, the expectation would be that the President and his government that wrought such a horrendous punishment on the polity, would themselves take some blows. But nada! Instead, the opposite was the case. Within months of plunging the citizens into the untold hardship Tinubu went on a binge, spending money – in the words of Olusegun Obasanjo, former President – like a drunken sailor.
Few weeks after, as Nigerians were reeling and gasping in pain from the impact of their new situation, 469 newly-minted Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), rolled out from factories in Japan, where they were produced into the premises of the National Assembly for the just inaugurated members.
Put the cost at N100billion – that is N160million for each unit, plus other charges. Reason: The lawmakers needed the vehicles because of their good suspension system, to navigate the so many bad roads in Nigeria. Yes, you heard right. How could they think well and make good laws after the hassles of the bad roads? Tinubu saw reasons, acquiesced and voila!
But it did not end there. Tinubu suddenly realised that Kashim Shettima, his deputy, needed a new home “befitting” his new office. Pronto! A voucher of N21billion was raised and he had it. Till date a haze still hovers over the project.
The last news that was heard was that Number Two refused to take residence because the entire environment, including the toilets was wired to the teeth to monitor him. And Number Two needed privacy.
Again, in the same weeks, Oga Patapata, also realised that Madam needed to transport more comfortably. Pronto! It was arranged. Another voucher was raised for cars for the Office of the First Lady. Cost N1.2billion. Of course, madam needed the comfort for peace at home.
Naturally, since transportation is not done by land alone, he also took care of that. For the sea, a yacht was procured. Cost N5billion. Because the birds in the presidential fleet were not good enough, Tinubu did the needful.
He enriched the fleet with the one befitting of his status and had it transformed to mimic the US Air Force One. To complete the status symbol project, he also added a replica of The Beast, the US presidential automobile.
Ironically, the funds used in procuring these luxury lifestyle, came, not out of productive ventures of Nigeria, but through borrowing. Today, Tinubu has practically borrowed Nigeria blind, doubling or even tripling that of his predecessors.
Meanwhile Nigerians had upped the ante from mere groaning and skreiching. Citizens, unable to take it anymore, now stop their hitherto sleek vehicles on the Third Mainland Bridge and plunge into the Lagos lagoon to end it all. The option is now more rampant than remote and occasional.
Many others, taking the Socrates option, now drink hemlock and many more simply sleep off without any intention of waking up. That is where we are. That is the new Nigeria – the Tinubu Nigeria. But there is more.
Terrorists and the landlords of the forest, having now discovered that the Commander-in-Chief has other fancies than security and welfare of the people – the constitutionally-declared primary purpose of government and scant regard for the citizens, have practically gone haywire. They have taken over and established their authority.
Presently, outside those wantonly slaughtered or butchered in their homes like animals at the abattoir, incinerated alive while sleeping on their beds, among other forms of decimation, many more citizens are now spending months, going to years as victims of captivity with them in various forests in Nigeria.
In their rampage, the terrorists have since broken all barriers considered out of place hitherto. One of their escapades is the present videos of the school children and teachers taken from Oyo State. The gory imagery captures the current Nigerian story.
For instance, on Thursday, just as the sound of heavy celebration was going on in neighbouring Ogun State as the world marked the Ojude Oba yearly carnival, two of the victims, one of them with a toddler on her back, were pleading for their lives, as others went through various forms of torture, including heavy whipping like beasts.
Don’t forget that the terrorists had earlier slaughtered one of their colleagues. In the new video, the totally terrified women, informed that they had chosen another victim to be similarly eliminated. Yet, no word about rescue! Terrible!
Interestingly, if not painfully, Tinubu’s response, in the few cases he bothered, was to see the crisis through the politics lens. His most recent reaction was to tell the world that the harvest of attacks and carnages ravaging the country, were sponsored by his political enemies, intent on shoving him out of power. That to him was all that mattered.
Now, where are your powers as C-in-C? They are mostly found in the most disgraceful economic and political acts of impunity. Nigerians now waking up to hear of the award of brain-dazing contracts such as the N15trillion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Badagry-Maiduguri Highway – with scant regard for official regulations, is now becoming more common than rare.
Few days after one of the teachers was beheaded and the video of the hideous act made to circulate on the social media, the President and his All Progressives Congress (APC), party, rolled out the drums of his winning the party’s ticket to contest the 2027 presidential election.
To say that it has been three years of weeping, wailing, mourning and gnashing of the teeth, is a clear euphemism. There is no starker way of putting it than calamity – pure, unmitigated catastrophe – disaster.
Then comes the big question. Nigeria is already breasting the tape of these ruinous years of the first term. Suppose Tinubu succeeds in renewing his tenure by January next year? Will Nigeria survive five more years of a life like the last three? What will be left of Nigeria? Is there a way out, outside shouting – God forbid!?
Now that Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has fully executed his plot against Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, where would it be placed in terms of identity, nuances, ethos and history? Where would it be placed in democratic arrangement and value? In other word, by what name would it be called?
So, this is what President Bola Tinubu’s much-advertised democratic credentials is all about? This is what being listed among the arrowheads in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the body that fought relentlessly against the late Sani Abacha and his henchmen has finally come to?
Is this where “The Last Man Standing” – apologies Tony Elumelu – has ended up? So, after wedging an epic battle for and through Lagos State, against then President Obasanjo and practically defeating him, even if perceptibly, in all the struggles – such as running government without federal allocation for years and surviving the political onslaught that took away other South West states like a tsunami, it has come to this?
Don’t forget that it was this selfsame Tinubu that served as the bastion of opposition in Nigerian politics from when he was Governor of Lagos State, not only standing up against Obasanjo, but undertaking the relentless battles that led to the All Progressives Congress (APC), winning the war eventually in 2015.
So, this is what all the struggles, the speeches, the colloquia, the meetings and the strategies have come to – the end result? So, the definition of democracy, to Tinubu, is selling the dog to buy a monkey – replacing democratic bad-behaviour with democratic-heist? So, this is it?!
Make no mistake about it. What you saw play out in Rivers is nothing but Tinubu at work. It is all about him, it is for him. Never make the mistake of adorning Wike in the toga of a powerful man. That would be a fatal error of judgement. Every power he exercises, real, imagined, inferred or contingent belong to and are exclusive to Tinubu.
Take away the President and Wike would turn to a political meek-lamb or a jellyfish. Fubara would have eaten him for lunch a long time ago. So, Tinubu it is – the reason the klieglights must be beamed on him. That is why he must carry the can in this odious construct in Rivers in particular and the entire Nigerian political scenario in general.
With the picture that assaulted Nigeria regarding the APC primaries that have just held, what is different from the edition we saw in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of old? Is it not worse or the worst in real and imagined terms? What then has Tinubu been fighting all these years?
Incidentally, where we have Wike today, we had Lamidi Adedibu, the Amala Politics exponent, Tony Aneni of the Mr. Fix-it fame and the Uba brothers in Anambra to whom the political firmament in Nigeria once bowed, among many plethora of examples.
So, there is nothing really new about the development, but for the fresh dimension that has been introduced into the narrative by the Wike phenomenon, which is totally novel. Before now it was a case of one behemoth in a political party rampaging the system.
But today, it has gone beyond that. Wike has developed the penchant for taking no prisoners. In his own strange construct, he has now coalesced the entire APC and PDP structure into his shoulder basket, from where he dispenses favours.
Imagine Kingsley Chinda, purchasing APC governorship election form, as a PDP federal lawmaker without first resigning from his original party. That is how wacky it has become. Wackier still is that nobody – not even the APC apparatchik has been able to raise a finger. Why? Obvious answer – the Tinubu factor.
Now, here is the danger. By the heist in Port Harcourt adding to the sequence of political oddities and absurdities since the Tinubu years, it has become obvious that Nigeria is headed towards a Paul Biya’s Cameroun, a Yoweri Musaveni’s Uganda and Zimbabwe under the late Robert Mugabe.
Tinubu, has shown obvious incapacity to tackle the parlous economic crisis in the country with 150 million Nigerians plunged into multidimensional poverty and many more growing the list daily, while also displaying uncommon powerlessness towards addressing the debilitating state of insecurity.
Under his nose citizens are daily being forced from their homes into the forests by terrorists, with some of them taken from their crutching positions, positioned before the camera and slaughtered – heads cut off like animals at an abattoir and video images freely displayed on social media.
Yet, by what has now happened in Rivers State, it has become obvious that Nigerians are not being factored into the whole equation and if they were, scant regard is paid to their opinion, ending in their powerlessness to change the situation. That is the tragedy!
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