With political tensions rising in Rivers State, following the move by the Rivers House of Assembly to impeach Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and his Deputy, Ngozi Odu, the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), the apex socio-political organisation of the South-South, on Friday stepped in to prevent a full-blown crisis by initiating high-level intervention efforts.
Specifically, the group has set up a reconciliation committee chaired by former Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN).
This emerged as FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, on Friday, clamoured for unity of purpose for the growth and progress of Rivers State.
Rivers State elders under the aegis of the Rivers Elders and Leadership Forum as well as some civil society groups condemned the impeachment notice issued to Fubara and Odu.
However, findings from Rivers showed that the State has remained peaceful and quiet, despite the looming political tension, even as reactions continue to trail the legislative action.
Members of the State House of Assembly, led by the Speaker, Martins Amaehwule, on Thursday, accused Fubara and Odu of gross misconduct, including misappropriation of public funds, obstructing the Rivers State House Assembly from performing her duties, others.
The Speaker, adopting the motion sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol, and Silvanus Nwankwo, had mandated an investigation into the governor’s financial and administrative actions.
He further directed the transmission of the notice of the allegations to Fubara and Odu.
PANDEF has set up a reconciliation committee headed by Agabi. The group expressed concern over the decision of the Rivers State House of Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against the state’s top executive officials, warning that the situation, if not urgently addressed, could escalate into wider instability.
In a statement issued after a meeting of its Board of Trustees and National Executive Committee, PANDEF noted that Rivers State occupies a strategic position not only in the Niger Delta but also in Nigeria’s overall political stability and economic wellbeing, given its role in the oil and gas sector and its diverse population, including a sizeable expatriate community.
The statement was jointly issued and signed by PANDEF’s top leadership, including King Alfred Diete-Spiff, the Amanyanabo of Twon-Brass and Co-Chairman of the Board of Trustees; Obong (Arc) Victor Attah, former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and Co-Chairman of the Board of Trustees; and Ambassador (Dr.) Godknows Boladei Igali, the National Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum.
The group urged all parties involved in the renewed political imbroglio to exercise restraint and embrace dialogue, tolerance and mutual forbearance in the interest of peace and development.
“In keeping with its non-partisan posture and its role as a unifying, motherly platform for the region, PANDEF calls on all parties to sheathe the sword and place the welfare of the people above political differences,” the statement said,
It added that governance and development must now take precedence over confrontation.
PANDEF also commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), elders of Rivers State, and other well-meaning Nigerians for previous and ongoing efforts aimed at restoring calm and stability in the State.
However, stressing its long-standing record in peace-building across the Niger Delta, the organisation announced the constitution of a high-level intervention team of eminent Nigerians to facilitate a peaceful and sustainable resolution of the crisis.
The reconciliation committee is chaired by Agabi, with former Edo North Senator, Obende Domingo, as vice chairman.
Other members include a former Minister of Housing, Essien Nduese; retired federal permanent secretary, Dr. Timiebi Koripamo-Agari; former Director of the Department of State Services, Chief Mike Ejiofor; and former Cross River State Attorney-General, Mrs. Nella Rabana-Andem (SAN).
The Deputy National Secretary of PANDEF, Prince Godwin Okotie, would serve as secretary of the committee.
Wike Urges Unity for Rivers’ Progress
FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, on Friday, clamoured for unity of purpose for the growth and progress of Rivers State.
He made the appeal during his ongoing “thank you” visit to Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers.
Wike noted that Andoni people had been experiencing progress and development as a result of unity, stressing the need for leaders at the local and state levels to remain united for the good of all.
He advised the people to continue to work together, assuring that more would come to Andoni if the leaders remained united.
The minister said politicians in the state were united under one umbrella, the “Renewed Hope Family” tagged Rainbow Coalition, to ensure the reelection of President Tinubu for a second term.
“We don’t have party allegiance in Rivers. What we have is a Rainbow Coalition under the Renewed Hope Family in pursuit of a common course and interest. You supported Tinubu in 2023, and today we are seeing the results. Do the same in 2027.
“For our local politics, at the appropriate time we will take a decision to correct the mistake we made in 2023,” Wike said.
The member representing Andoni in the Rivers Assembly, Ofiks Kagbang, said that Wike had done much for the constituency, pledging that the people would follow his directive in 2027.
“I am an Ijaw son and I want to let you know that ijaw people are grateful people. The one in the government house is a mistake and we will correct that mistake when the time comes,” he said.
Chairman of the Council, Mr. Prince Otuo, told Wike that he had united the leaders of the party in the area to mobilise support for Tinubu reelection for a second term in 2027.
Rivers Elders, CSOs Condemn Impeachment Move
Rivers State elders under the aegis of Rivers Elders and Leadership Forum condemned the recent impeachment notice issued against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy Prof. Ngozi Odu by members of the State House of Assembly.
In a statement signed by the Acting Chairman of the Forum, Dr. Gabriel Toby the elder statesmen said impeachment was a serious constitutional process, not a tool for political vendettas or factional struggles.
Toby, a former deputy governor in the State who spoke on behalf of the forum said “The reasons so far advanced in support of this action (impeachment ) are disturbingly weak, lacking substance, public interest justification, or constitutional weight.”
The forum observed that the action appeared driven by narrow personal interests rather than genuine concern for good governance.
“The Forum reminds the Rivers State House of Assembly that the Governor’s mandate was freely given by the people of Rivers State and can only be questioned in strict compliance with constitutional provisions, due process, and on the basis of clear, compelling, and verifiable grounds.”
The statesmen warned that the current course of action risks deepening political divisions, eroding public trust in democratic institutions, and further destabilising an already fragile polity.
“Rivers State has not fully recovered from the political, social, and institutional disruptions of the recent period of emergency rule. Our people continue to bear the consequences of that episode, and this development, so early in the year, risks reopening old wounds and heightening tensions at a time when stability and focused governance are urgently needed.”
The forum called on the lawmakers to immediately retrace its steps and place the collective interest, peace, and progress of Rivers State above all partisan or personal considerations.
“The Rivers Elders and Leadership Forum remains firmly committed to peace, unity, justice, and constitutional democracy in Rivers State. We will not be silent in the face of any action that threaten the stability, dignity, and future of our state”, Toby added.
Meanwhile, reactions have continued to trail the impeachment saga in Rivers. Former Commissioner for Information and Communications in the State, Austin Tam George, accused Wike of allegedly reducing governance to personal control, recalling his own experience serving under the former governor.
George who made the accusation in an interview on ARISE News, described the new impeachment notice against Governor Fubara as “dead on arrival.”
He said the move was purely political and lacks any constitutional or legal basis, insisting that the impeachment effort was designed to halt what he described as Governor Fubara’s growing popularity across the state.
The former Commissioner stated that the impeachment attempt was a reaction to Fubara’s recent defection to the APC, which he said had “threatened the original leverage” of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, over the state government.
“The defection of the governor has obviously threatened the original leverage that the Wike camp had, and they are now trying to reassert that leverage.
“Nyesom Wike has been a complete pestilence on Rivers State. I served in his administration. I resigned precisely because of his propensity for chaos, instability, and reducing government to a personality cult.”
Also, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) condemned the impeachment move against Fubara, describing it as anti-democratic and a misuse of legislative powers.
In a statement signed by the Chancellor of the International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights (ISSJHR), Dr. Omenazu Jackson, alongside the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), in a separate statement signed by its Rivers State Chairman, Sunny Dada, and Secretary, Dr. Christian Onyegbule, said the impeachment threat was constitutionally reckless and an abuse of legislative authority.
Jackson stressed that impeachment was not a political weapon but a grave constitutional process strictly governed by Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
He noted that the law requires clear allegations of gross misconduct, due process, fair hearing, legislative quorum and judicial panel investigation, warning that any deviation would render such an action null and void.
The group cautioned “political opportunists and crisis merchants” against actions capable of plunging the state into instability, warning that the patience of the people should not be mistaken for weakness.
Similarly, the CLO noted that it had earlier urged the governor to present the budget for legislative action, maintaining that impeachment is a grave constitutional safeguard for accountability, not a tool for political retaliation or brinkmanship.
The organisation expressed concern that the prevailing political tensions could distort constitutional procedures and turn them into instruments of conflict rather than democratic oversight.
It demanded strict adherence to due process, insisting that the House of Assembly must comply with constitutional provisions, its standing rules and judicial precedents.
In his contribution, a Former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Sam Amadi, identified due judicial process as Fubara’s strongest safeguard against impeachment in Rivers State.
He specifically stated that the judicial phase of the process remains Fubara’s “saving grace,” saying it was likely to shield him from impeachment.
Amadi said the impeachment process hinges largely on the appointment of an investigative panel by the state’s Chief Judge, describing it as the “anchor point” of the entire procedure.
Speaking on Arise News Channel, Amadi said: “The main anchor for the impeachment procedure is the appointment by the Chief Judge of the State investigators. That is really the anchor point. If you don’t get there, you are gone.
“He knows the game against himself. He appointed a Chief Judge that we think would be more amenable to him, and again, because also the grounds for his impeachment are not legally overwhelming, let’s to say the least, some would say it’s really trash.
”But the judge will be the saving point here, because he will appoint people who may not, at least by definition, constitutionally, people of integrity, who are not politically partisan.
“So they will look at the lens and say, has this governor, since the end of emergency rule, done anything that amounts to gross misconduct, even though the Supreme Court has said gross misconduct is in the eye of the beholder. But here this men of integrity would look at the lens and say, what really is the big deal here? What has this governor done that’s suffering six months’ incarceration, if you like, politically, and then coming back hasn’t done anything,” he explained.
Deji Elumoye, Chuks Okocha, Olawale Ajimotokan, Sunday Aborisade, and Blessing Ibunge
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