A member of the Rivers State Elders and Leaders Forum, David Briggs, who was present during President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in the state’s crisis, has said he an witness to what transpired at the meeting with Governor Siminalayi Fubara, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and other Rivers stakeholders to find lasting peace to the crisis that had engulfed the state following the disagreement between Wike and Fubara.
Briggs, who appealed to patriots in the state and across the country to take steps to ensure that the president’s action did not belittle the constitution, disclosed that contrary to the impression that an understanding was reached at the end of the meeting, the president walked in with the controversial peace terms already drafted.
Also, contrary to some swirling misrepresentations of the implications of President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in the Rivers State political crisis, Governor Siminalayi Fubara is actually a big winner, according to analysts. According to them, with the presidential proclamation, it will be difficult to turn round and impeach Fubara.
While noting that the president not only flashed the document in an obvious attempt to intimidate the governor and the entire sitting, he claimed Tinubu actually declared it a presidential declaration that no one could afford to undermine.
Briggs, a former Commissioner for Water Resources in the state, spoke against the backdrop of the controversial terms of settlement between Fubara, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
In a no-holds-barred interview, on Thursday, Briggs said discussions preceding the signing of the peace agreement were laced with subtle threats and chest-beating.
He said with the president walking into the meeting with a document he declared as presidential proclamation, he did not leave any room for opinion of Rivers State elders at the meeting.
“I’m a participant in that purported meeting. I was there. We were invited to a meeting but that was not a meeting because a meeting means opinion will be sought.
“There will be discussion by both parties and opinions will be sought and resolutions will be reached.
“But the President walked in with a resolution, addressed us and said what he had in his hand was a presidential proclamation, a presidential directive and at the point, he emphasised that he was the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Therefore, we can weep and anybody who tends to say no to what he’s saying, has consequences. That is not democratic. That, in a simple layman’s word, is a threat,” he said.
According to him, “He (Tinubu) wrote the resolution but refused to read the resolution, and handed the resolution to doctor (Peter Odili) to read, but interjects him, and each time he interjects, it comes with a polite threat, and a smiling insult.
“Thereafter, he asked the governor to speak. Let’s get it clear, If you were the governor, what would you do? Get up and say, ‘Mr President, no?’ With that kind of subtle but energetic threat, realising that back home, we are fighting an internal aggression?
“If you are in his position, will you still attract another external fight? The answer is no,” he said, urging Tinubu to uphold the constitution.
“I do know that the president is to protect the constitution of the federal republic and therefore, Nigerians are watching him. Rivers people are watching him whether he is upholding by his pronouncement.
“I am not in a position to say that, but I believe there will be peace in Rivers State and that’s what the governor is saying. But Rivers knows what is best for them.
“The moment you allow the third party to come into their matter and you are unable to establish the intention and interest of the third party, who has come to arbitrate, you are failing.
“And as one of the founding members of PDP in Rivers, we will not allow this thing to come to pass,” he said.
He maintained that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) remained the party in majority in the Rivers Assembly.
“Of course, I am not a lawyer but I have consulted lawyers. In the eyes of the law, and I am educated enough to read the letters of the law. In most cases, it says the symbol of the law is blind and double-edged, so it can be misinterpreted.
Rivers State is PDP and PDP is majority in the Rivers State House of Assembly. We are not minority because we only have four or five members including the speaker and they are majority in the eyes of the law,” he said.
The president said the governor should represent a bill already passed into law. The law is never made proactively. That’s why I said the president swore to uphold the constitution not to destroy the constitution.
“When one president belittles the constitution, then persons outside the country will belittle the constitution. I know he will not belittle the constitution,” he said.
On the implementation of the agreement, he said, “I tell you it is very simple. Why were we there? Why was Tinubu there? It is because it is a democratic set up.
“I haven’t been to his house but I was told he has a very beautiful house even better than the president’s house.
“But the villa is the foundation of democracy and I do know that the president is to protect the constitution of the federal republic and therefore, Nigerians are watching him,” he said.
Meanwhile, contrary to some swirling misrepresentations of the implications of President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in the Rivers State political crisis, Governor Siminalayi Fubara is actually a big winner, THISDAY has leant.
Tinubu’s intervention in the Rivers crisis yielded an eight-point peace deal, which had since elicited reactions from different quarters.
The peace terms included, “All matters instituted in the courts by Governor Fubara, and his team, in respect of the political crisis in Rivers State, shall be withdrawn immediately.
“All impeachment proceedings initiated against the governor of Rivers State by the Rivers State House of Assembly should be dropped immediately.
“The leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly, as led by Amaewhule, shall be recognised alongside the 27 members who resigned from the PDP.
“The remunerations and benefits of all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and their staff must be reinstated immediately and the governor of Rivers State shall, henceforth, not interfere with the full funding of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“The Rivers State House of Assembly shall choose where they want to sit and conduct their legislative business without interference and/or hindrance from the executive arm of government.
“Governor Fubara shall represent the state budget to a properly constituted Rivers State House of Assembly.
“The names of all commissioners in the Rivers State Executive Council, who resigned their appointments because of the political crisis in the state, should be resubmitted to the House of Assembly for approval.
“There should not be a caretaker committee for the local governments in Rivers State. The dissolution of the local government administration is null and void and shall not be recognised.”
But some stakeholders, both within and outside the state, had condemned the terms of peace arrived at following Tinubu’s intervention. Their grouse was mainly hinged on the allegation that the eight-point peace deal was designed largely to favour the immediate past governor and current Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and make Fubara vulnerable, an interpretation that earned the president knocks from around the country.
But with the terms of reconciliation forbidding the majority lawmakers from impeaching the governor, the security of his seat has been guaranteed. What this means is that the lawmakers, who have already announced the withdrawal of the impeachment notice, would be unable to disregard the instructions of the president.
Thus, if the impeachment threat is off the path of Fubara, it therefore means he has secured a major victory from the crisis, courtesy of Tinubu’s intervention. And this precisely is what has happened.
Second, with the manner the disagreement between Fubara and his estranged godfather, Wike, panned out, he has regained some measure of independence from Wike.
Wike must also have understood that with the president’s intervention in the crisis, he cannot just go and instigate another impeachment plot against the governor. And should that be the case, it will reflect badly on the president if he allows it. It will damage his authority and standing with other governors and other stakeholders, who would be very reluctant to welcome his intervention on any matter or dispute in the future.
The presidential intervention has put the governor firmly under the orbit of presidential protection.
It is the thinking in some critical quarters that Wike understands this and would think twice before taking any action in furtherance of the impeachment.
In the final analysis, therefore, as much as the peace deal may not be pleasing to his team, Fubara appears to be the biggest winner in the current power equation, having secured his seat from threat of impeachment, and being saved from Wike’s constant harassment.
Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja and Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
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