For The Record
Your Mandate ’ ll Never Be Abused – Amaechi
Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi’s inaugural address to mark the beginning of his new four-year mandate, on May 29, 2011 in Port Harcourt.
A CALL TO RENEWAL
Fellow citizens of Rivers State, on the 26th of October, 2007, after I assumed office, I addressed you for the first time as Governor. Today, as I take another oath of office to serve you for the next four years, I believe that it is only fitting and proper that I start by thanking you, the good people of our great state, for the trust you bestowed on me, through my resounding victory at the last elections. On behalf of myself and all our elected officials, I sincerely thank you. Your overwhelming mandate was as humbling as it was challenging. Your mandate is much more than a privilege. It is a sacred trust, an article of faith that we do not take lightly. I promise that we shall never abuse it.
My appreciation goes not only to those who voted for me but also to all those who showed belief in the future of our state by exercising their civic rights. In a democracy, electoral victory belongs to the people, not to an individual. Therefore, this occasion belongs to all the people of Rivers State, as one people; united by a common purpose, joined by common aims and energized by common dreams. The time for electoral battle is over. The time to close ranks in the service of the people is now. I therefore call on all those who honestly have valid contributions, irrespective of their party affiliations, to join hands with us in the development of Rivers State.
In many ways, this occasion is unique. I took my first oath of office in circumstances that are quite different from today’s. On that occasion, I was empowered by the will of God and the power of justice. That day witnessed the correction of injustice and the triumph of the rule of law. In that first term, I had the opportunity of serving our people to the best of my ability and the sincerest of purposes. Today, as we collectively commence this new four-year journey, I make a solemn pledge, before all of you present, that with God’s help, we would strive to serve you even better. I pledge further to head a government of Rivers State that would work tirelessly to “improve the quality of life of our present and future generations and empower our people in a peaceful, just and harmonious society”.
When we took over in October of 2007, we had no illusions about the enormity of the task before us. We had inherited a state that was in need of reconstruction and rehabilitation. Not only was security to life and property a confounding challenge to the security agencies, the state’s infrastructure and other attendant social services were in need of reconstruction. Everywhere we looked, there was work to be done.
At our inauguration then, we promised that we would act boldly and swiftly to lay the foundation for the growth and development of a new Rivers State. Based on a Blueprint of Action which was put together by the best and brightest of our state, we set down to work. We promised to build new roads and bridges, to restore our schools to their past glory, to construct new hospitals and health centres, to create jobs, empower our people, terminate urban decay and above all, bring back transparency and accountability to government. We entered into a pledge with you, the people, that every kobo earned for the state use would be expended on the state for the benefit of all the people.
With your support, we have made substantial progress and moved our state forward. By the end of 2008, barely one year after I took office, our state had become a much safer place to live in. We have arrested the crumbling school system by building new primary and secondary schools. Also, we have delivered on our promise to revamp the entire health-care delivery system and shall continue to do so.
These modest achievements have been duplicated in the area of infrastructure where we have built hundreds of kilometres of roads and several bridges and flyovers across all the 23 local government areas of the state. In addition we have also recorded substantial strides in the area of power generation.
We have not stopped at merely putting up visible structures. We have done more. We have also instituted mechanisms that will guarantee the sustainability of our emerging institutions. For instance, for the first time in the history of our state, we put in place a Due Process Commission that guarantees transparency and accountability in the award of all contracts. Similarly, an effective Health Management Board has been inaugurated to ensure that our revamped Health sector continues to receive the attention it deserves beyond the life of this administration. The Traffic Management Agency and the Schools’ Management Board are other similar institutions that have been put in place to guarantee sustainability.
Yet, even with our modest collective achievements in less than four years (or perhaps because of them!), some people have said that we are, probably, doing too much, too quickly and that if care was not taken, we would lose focus and go astray.
To those who say so, I invite them to read the disconcerting text messages I receive practically every morning from Mr. Dibi, who lives at No. 3 Enugu Street in Port Harcourt, complaining that there is hardly electricity supply in his part of town.
Those who say we are doing too much too quickly should have seen the mayhem that was created on Friday, the 13th of May, here in Port Harcourt, when a trailer vehicle tipped over at the Rumuola junction, creating a gridlock of traffic jam that paralysed the entire city, a situation that would have been impossible with a better network of roads.
Those who say we should hasten slowly obviously do not see the thousands of our people whom I see every morning trekking long distances to work because our transportation network still leaves much to be desired.
Those who say we should slow down, should say it to our many young school leavers who remain unemployed because we cannot find them jobs as quickly as they graduate from school. The story that we are a government in a hurry would be mere hot air to thousands of our citizens who still have no access to pipe borne water and therefore are at the constant mercy of water-borne diseases.
Yet we have made improvement in certain areas of our lives. The other day, during one of my numerous inspection visits to our new primary schools, I was deeply touched when an elderly grand-mother warmly embraced me, in appreciation for the provision of school uniforms, sandals and textbooks for her only grand-daughter.
But the truth is that a lot more would need to be done if we must transform Rivers State into a preferred destination for business and living in our country.
To this end the central focus of this next administration shall continue to be the welfare of the people and the rapid economic development of the state.
To get there, we will need in the next four years, to empower the less privileged to improve their lot in the shortest possible time. At the same time, we shall make the state more business friendly in order to generate opportunities for our teeming youth.
In our healthcare strategy, we shall look out in particular for the powerless, the aged, the infirm and those who are physically challenged. We shall continue to provide basic healthcare while to prevent the diseases that may cripple our people tomorrow. To this end, we shall complete and equip ongoing health centres projects while ensuring that the operational ones are well stocked and well staffed. We shall provide secondary healthcare to ensure that the sick and infirm receive appropriate care and that the burden of disease does not erode the energy of the people.
Again, the equipment of ongoing hospitals will be speeded up while renovation and upgrading of existing general hospitals will proceed apace. We shall intensify efforts to complete ongoing tertiary health facilities to eliminate the need for our citizens requiring specialized attention to travel abroad for medical treatment. My commitment to the provision of free healthcare for all our citizens remains intact. The modalities will become clearer in the months ahead.
In the area of education, our efforts will now be intensified. We shall continue to equip completed primary schools, complete ongoing schools while embarking on the construction of new schools strictly on the basis of need. The same approach will apply to our new model secondary schools. I am aware that fears have been expressed with regard to the operation and maintenance of these schools with their ultra modern facilities. I want to assure the people of Rivers State that an appropriate arrangement is in place to ensure efficient management and optimal maintenance of these schools.
We would also need to do more for Education by ensuring that the new Rivers State University of Science and Technology is completed in the next four years.
Our independent power projects are progressing satisfactorily. We have recently negotiated significant concessions from the Federal Government that will allow us to generate and distribute our own power. Already, I have set up a technical committee to ensure that by the end of next year, we should achieve 24 hours power supply in Rivers State, beginning first with the Onne oil and gas free zone and extending to the Port Harcourt Refinery and other parts of the state.
In the next four years, we will continue to rigorously pursue our urban renewal drive, by completing our existing network of roads and an infrastructure that would rapidly drive economic growth and activity.
To get there, we must execute our dream of building a new Greater Port Harcourt city, one that will be the envy of our people and our country. While this is a long-term project, we can, and would, in the next four years, under the newly created Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority, lay a solid and irreversible foundation for the quickest realisation of this dream.
Having completed most consultancy phases of the project, we intend to go into active construction of infrastructure, major commercial projects as well as open the field for private development of commercial and residential structures.
We cannot expect to achieve much without adequate security. In spite of significant improvements in this area, there remain pockets of problems. My commitment this time around is to ensure that the state becomes a crime free zone in the shortest possible time.
Our social and economic empowerment strategy will increasingly target the huge energies of our women. A lot of that energy is currently locked away mostly in rural areas. We shall encourage our rural women to organize and mobilize their energies to support our development efforts.
We also need to empower the people to do for themselves those things, which only people can do for themselves. But we realize that the skills and competencies required for optimization of individual good are not readily available. Our government will initiate programmes to build capacity, to impart skills and train manpower in basic areas. A re-energized Rivers State Micro Credit Agency (RIMA), will increase the access of the people to credit for small and medium scale businesses.
In order to transform and modernize our state, we need a well-motivated and efficient public service. To this end, we shall continue to encourage the service through capacity enhancement and continuous improvement of working conditions. In return, we expect a higher level of commitment from the public service. Old habits must give way to new energy. Absenteeism and negligence must now be replaced by a new sense of commitment to the cause of development.
My fellow citizens of Rivers State, today, I ask you to reach out to that enduring and indomitable spirit as we confront the challenges of the next four years. If you ask me again about my vision of Rivers State, I shall say without equivocation: I see a state that will be a beacon of development and progress in the federation. I see a state in which the citizens are enlightened, skilled and healthy. I see a state at peace with itself and with its neighbours. I see a state that is poised to compete with the rest of the world in the benefits and challenges of this century and the next. That state shall be the home of a happy, fulfilled and proud people. I believe happiness and prosperity is the entitlement of every Rivers citizen. So help us God.
To all the peoples of Rivers State, I say, your continued support is indispensible to our success as a people. It is true that governments can, and do initiate visions and policies. But only if the people themselves are keyed into such visions can a people’s collective dream become realities.
But today, your continued support is indispensible to our success as a people. I am emboldened by your mandate to say loud and clear: This is a new day in the life of our state. It is the day for hard work. It is the day of service to the people. It is the day for a new commitment to development. To the business community at home and abroad, my message is more confident today: Rivers State is renewed and now open for business.
Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi’s inaugural address to mark the beginning of his new four-year mandate, on May 29, 2011 in Port Harcourt.
A CALL TO RENEWAL
Fellow citizens of Rivers State, on the 26th of October, 2007, after I assumed office, I addressed you for the first time as Governor. Today, as I take another oath of office to serve you for the next four years, I believe that it is only fitting and proper that I start by thanking you, the good people of our great state, for the trust you bestowed on me, through my resounding victory at the last elections. On behalf of myself and all our elected officials, I sincerely thank you. Your overwhelming mandate was as humbling as it was challenging. Your mandate is much more than a privilege. It is a sacred trust, an article of faith that we do not take lightly. I promise that we shall never abuse it.
My appreciation goes not only to those who voted for me but also to all those who showed belief in the future of our state by exercising their civic rights. In a democracy, electoral victory belongs to the people, not to an individual. Therefore, this occasion belongs to all the people of Rivers State, as one people; united by a common purpose, joined by common aims and energized by common dreams. The time for electoral battle is over. The time to close ranks in the service of the people is now. I therefore call on all those who honestly have valid contributions, irrespective of their party affiliations, to join hands with us in the development of Rivers State.
In many ways, this occasion is unique. I took my first oath of office in circumstances that are quite different from today’s. On that occasion, I was empowered by the will of God and the power of justice. That day witnessed the correction of injustice and the triumph of the rule of law. In that first term, I had the opportunity of serving our people to the best of my ability and the sincerest of purposes. Today, as we collectively commence this new four-year journey, I make a solemn pledge, before all of you present, that with God’s help, we would strive to serve you even better. I pledge further to head a government of Rivers State that would work tirelessly to “improve the quality of life of our present and future generations and empower our people in a peaceful, just and harmonious society”.
When we took over in October of 2007, we had no illusions about the enormity of the task before us. We had inherited a state that was in need of reconstruction and rehabilitation. Not only was security to life and property a confounding challenge to the security agencies, the state’s infrastructure and other attendant social services were in need of reconstruction. Everywhere we looked, there was work to be done.
At our inauguration then, we promised that we would act boldly and swiftly to lay the foundation for the growth and development of a new Rivers State. Based on a Blueprint of Action which was put together by the best and brightest of our state, we set down to work. We promised to build new roads and bridges, to restore our schools to their past glory, to construct new hospitals and health centres, to create jobs, empower our people, terminate urban decay and above all, bring back transparency and accountability to government. We entered into a pledge with you, the people, that every kobo earned for the state use would be expended on the state for the benefit of all the people.
With your support, we have made substantial progress and moved our state forward. By the end of 2008, barely one year after I took office, our state had become a much safer place to live in. We have arrested the crumbling school system by building new primary and secondary schools. Also, we have delivered on our promise to revamp the entire health-care delivery system and shall continue to do so.
These modest achievements have been duplicated in the area of infrastructure where we have built hundreds of kilometres of roads and several bridges and flyovers across all the 23 local government areas of the state. In addition we have also recorded substantial strides in the area of power generation.
We have not stopped at merely putting up visible structures. We have done more. We have also instituted mechanisms that will guarantee the sustainability of our emerging institutions. For instance, for the first time in the history of our state, we put in place a Due Process Commission that guarantees transparency and accountability in the award of all contracts. Similarly, an effective Health Management Board has been inaugurated to ensure that our revamped Health sector continues to receive the attention it deserves beyond the life of this administration. The Traffic Management Agency and the Schools’ Management Board are other similar institutions that have been put in place to guarantee sustainability.
Yet, even with our modest collective achievements in less than four years (or perhaps because of them!), some people have said that we are, probably, doing too much, too quickly and that if care was not taken, we would lose focus and go astray.
To those who say so, I invite them to read the disconcerting text messages I receive practically every morning from Mr. Dibi, who lives at No. 3 Enugu Street in Port Harcourt, complaining that there is hardly electricity supply in his part of town.
Those who say we are doing too much too quickly should have seen the mayhem that was created on Friday, the 13th of May, here in Port Harcourt, when a trailer vehicle tipped over at the Rumuola junction, creating a gridlock of traffic jam that paralysed the entire city, a situation that would have been impossible with a better network of roads.
Those who say we should hasten slowly obviously do not see the thousands of our people whom I see every morning trekking long distances to work because our transportation network still leaves much to be desired.
Those who say we should slow down, should say it to our many young school leavers who remain unemployed because we cannot find them jobs as quickly as they graduate from school. The story that we are a government in a hurry would be mere hot air to thousands of our citizens who still have no access to pipe borne water and therefore are at the constant mercy of water-borne diseases.
Yet we have made improvement in certain areas of our lives. The other day, during one of my numerous inspection visits to our new primary schools, I was deeply touched when an elderly grand-mother warmly embraced me, in appreciation for the provision of school uniforms, sandals and textbooks for her only grand-daughter.
But the truth is that a lot more would need to be done if we must transform Rivers State into a preferred destination for business and living in our country.
To this end the central focus of this next administration shall continue to be the welfare of the people and the rapid economic development of the state.
To get there, we will need in the next four years, to empower the less privileged to improve their lot in the shortest possible time. At the same time, we shall make the state more business friendly in order to generate opportunities for our teeming youth.
In our healthcare strategy, we shall look out in particular for the powerless, the aged, the infirm and those who are physically challenged. We shall continue to provide basic healthcare while to prevent the diseases that may cripple our people tomorrow. To this end, we shall complete and equip ongoing health centres projects while ensuring that the operational ones are well stocked and well staffed. We shall provide secondary healthcare to ensure that the sick and infirm receive appropriate care and that the burden of disease does not erode the energy of the people.
Again, the equipment of ongoing hospitals will be speeded up while renovation and upgrading of existing general hospitals will proceed apace. We shall intensify efforts to complete ongoing tertiary health facilities to eliminate the need for our citizens requiring specialized attention to travel abroad for medical treatment. My commitment to the provision of free healthcare for all our citizens remains intact. The modalities will become clearer in the months ahead.
In the area of education, our efforts will now be intensified. We shall continue to equip completed primary schools, complete ongoing schools while embarking on the construction of new schools strictly on the basis of need. The same approach will apply to our new model secondary schools. I am aware that fears have been expressed with regard to the operation and maintenance of these schools with their ultra modern facilities. I want to assure the people of Rivers State that an appropriate arrangement is in place to ensure efficient management and optimal maintenance of these schools.
We would also need to do more for Education by ensuring that the new Rivers State University of Science and Technology is completed in the next four years.
Our independent power projects are progressing satisfactorily. We have recently negotiated significant concessions from the Federal Government that will allow us to generate and distribute our own power. Already, I have set up a technical committee to ensure that by the end of next year, we should achieve 24 hours power supply in Rivers State, beginning first with the Onne oil and gas free zone and extending to the Port Harcourt Refinery and other parts of the state.
In the next four years, we will continue to rigorously pursue our urban renewal drive, by completing our existing network of roads and an infrastructure that would rapidly drive economic growth and activity.
To get there, we must execute our dream of building a new Greater Port Harcourt city, one that will be the envy of our people and our country. While this is a long-term project, we can, and would, in the next four years, under the newly created Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority, lay a solid and irreversible foundation for the quickest realisation of this dream.
Having completed most consultancy phases of the project, we intend to go into active construction of infrastructure, major commercial projects as well as open the field for private development of commercial and residential structures.
We cannot expect to achieve much without adequate security. In spite of significant improvements in this area, there remain pockets of problems. My commitment this time around is to ensure that the state becomes a crime free zone in the shortest possible time.
Our social and economic empowerment strategy will increasingly target the huge energies of our women. A lot of that energy is currently locked away mostly in rural areas. We shall encourage our rural women to organize and mobilize their energies to support our development efforts.
We also need to empower the people to do for themselves those things, which only people can do for themselves. But we realize that the skills and competencies required for optimization of individual good are not readily available. Our government will initiate programmes to build capacity, to impart skills and train manpower in basic areas. A re-energized Rivers State Micro Credit Agency (RIMA), will increase the access of the people to credit for small and medium scale businesses.
In order to transform and modernize our state, we need a well-motivated and efficient public service. To this end, we shall continue to encourage the service through capacity enhancement and continuous improvement of working conditions. In return, we expect a higher level of commitment from the public service. Old habits must give way to new energy. Absenteeism and negligence must now be replaced by a new sense of commitment to the cause of development.
My fellow citizens of Rivers State, today, I ask you to reach out to that enduring and indomitable spirit as we confront the challenges of the next four years. If you ask me again about my vision of Rivers State, I shall say without equivocation: I see a state that will be a beacon of development and progress in the federation. I see a state in which the citizens are enlightened, skilled and healthy. I see a state at peace with itself and with its neighbours. I see a state that is poised to compete with the rest of the world in the benefits and challenges of this century and the next. That state shall be the home of a happy, fulfilled and proud people. I believe happiness and prosperity is the entitlement of every Rivers citizen. So help us God.
To all the peoples of Rivers State, I say, your continued support is indispensible to our success as a people. It is true that governments can, and do initiate visions and policies. But only if the people themselves are keyed into such visions can a people’s collective dream become realities.
But today, your continued support is indispensible to our success as a people. I am emboldened by your mandate to say loud and clear: This is a new day in the life of our state. It is the day for hard work. It is the day of service to the people. It is the day for a new commitment to development. To the business community at home and abroad, my message is more confident today: Rivers State is renewed and now open for business.
For The Record
BROADCAST BY HIS EXCELLENCY, SIR SIMINALAVI FUBARA, GSSRS ON TUESDAY, 18TH JUNE, 2024
For The Record
An Open Letter To President Bola Ahmed Tinubu On The Imperative Of Revisiting The Eight-Point Resolution Brokered As Truce For The Rivers Political Crisis
Your Excellency, as belated as it may come, please, do accept my congratulations on your victory in the last Presidential election, and the seamless swearing-in ceremony that ushered you in as the sixth democratically elected President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Of course, your victory did not come as a surprise to many, given your antecedents as a democrat, astute administrator and, a go-getter. Whereas your track record as a political activist, especially in the wake of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election is self-evident; your exceptional performance as Governor of Lagos State is a clincher any day.
It is my prayer therefore, that the good Lord, who has brought you this far, guide and direct your ways to steer the ship of state aright.
That being said, Your Excellency, please permit me to commence this correspondence with an allegory drawn from our recent past. A few years ago, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was elected Nigeria’s President on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). You were equally elected Governor of Lagos State on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). This electoral upshot inevitably placed you in opposition to the government at the centre.
The dust raised in the wake of the elections was yet to settle before you disagreed with then President Obasanjo. The bone of contention transcended personal vendetta, or so it seemed. Again, it happened at a time when our democracy could rightly be described as nascent. You had approached the court to seek judicial interpretation on some grey areas of our constitution, as provided for, in the concurrent list.
Much as Obasanjo would have loved to have things go his own his way, he was apparently restrained by the grundnorm. And he recognized it was within your right to seek judicial interpretation as to whether he wasn’t exercising his powers as president ultra vires. That was the rule of law at play; a classic specimen of what we fondly refer to as the beauty of democracy in our political parlance.Above all, it underscored the centrality of the constitution in resolving state matter.
Nigerians gave you thumbs up for engaging Obasanjo and the federal government all the way up to the Supreme Court. Moreover, happening at a time when the fear of President Obasanjo and the unwritten federal might were considered the beginning of political wisdom in our polity. Of course, the constitution came handy as a leveler between your good self and former President Obasanjo.
In light of the above, Nigerians naturally expect a clear departure from what the Obasanjo era and the immediate past regime offered them as constitutional democracy. Whereas it is still early in the day to rate your performance in this regard, one cannot but acknowledge that you have so far shown that you have some listening ear. Your intervention in what could have degenerated into a total breakdown of law and order in Rivers State late last year comes as a reference point. For me, stepping in to halt the ship of state from completederailment is an eloquent attestation to the fact that you place the security of lives and property, peace and harmony, and national cohesion over and above partisan interest.
You could equally have looked the other way and allow the crisis fester, since Rivers State is a PDP state. But you hearkened to the voice of reason, and that of well-meaning Nigerians, particularly, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, the leader of the Ijaw nation, and, the Ijaw National Congress (INC) to halt the drift. Notwithstanding your tight schedule, you took out time to summon the governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Joseph Fubara, his predecessor, now FCT minister, Barr. Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike and Hon. Martins Amaewhule who were the principal actors in the crisis to the Villa, and have them subscribed to a peace deal.
Although I had my reservations over the eight-point resolution ab initio, I refrained myself from joining the bandwagon in pointing out some of the obvious limitations in the document at the time. My position was informed by the following reasons. First, I didn’t see it as the wisest thing to do at a time when the crisis was raging like a wildfire. For me, nothing could have been more paramount than bringing the situation under control, which the armistice effectively accomplished. Second, I trusted your judgment, and honestly believed that you brokered the deal in good faith. I was therefore willing to give the truce the deserved benefit of the doubt by putting it to test. Finally, and most importantly, the governor who was in the eye of the storm was unwavering in restating his commitment to the terms of the truce.
However, three months after the deal was struck, I dare say, Your Excellency; that it has failed in attaining the ultimate goal of reconciling the warring factions.Instead, it had become the template for the palpable tension the state has since been grappling with. This outcome is by no means surprising to any discerning mind. And the reasons are not far-fetched. First, as I mentioned earlier, it would appear that in a bid to halt to the looming anarchy, the constitution which is the grundnorm was not properly consulted in forging the eight-point resolution. Also, a reexamination of the document reveals a certain degree of political fiat in its construct.
That the eight-point resolution has since triggered a plethora of litigations is only natural. That it has induced a near state of anomie clearly points to the inherent flaws in the document. That it has thrown up desperadoesand warmongers like Chief Tony Okocha and Engr. Samuel Nwanosike who now disparage, distract and outrightly abuse a sitting governor with reckless abandon is equally expected. As for Wike, the man believes the governor is his lackey, therefore, tongue-lashing, and outrightly threatening to give the governor sleepless nights are privileges he believes are within his right. But most worrisome, is the fact that Wike doesn’t make empty threats. In other words, backtracking on getting the governor out of office, either by hook or crook isn’t just an option.
The truth is, some of the articles in the eight-point resolution stealthily stripped the governor of the powers and aura of his office;thus exposing him to the ridicule we see today. For instance, article three directed the governor to reinstate former members of the state executive council,who had earlier resigned their appointments from the state cabinet. Truth be told, such directive to a sitting governor, in the very least, leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Perhaps, it would have been a different kettle of fish had the governor whimsically sacked the commissioners because he suspected their allegiance lay with the FCT minister. But here, these supposed honourable men and women resigned their appointments on their own volition, citing “personal grounds”.
One would have expected Your Excellency toresolve the issue a little differently given your groundedness in public and private administration; knowing that trust and mutual respect took flight the moment those commissioners handed in their resignation letters. In other words, people with obvious reservations against each other cannot truly work as a team.
The constitution expressly confers the powers to appoint commissioners on the governor of a state. It follows therefore that commissioners owe their loyalty to the governor who appoints them. While in the saddle, Wike was unequivocal in demanding a hundred percent loyalty from his commissioners. And that was what he got during his eight-year reign. Granted that the commissioners in question were all nominated by the FCT minister as we now know; the question is, was it also within his right to direct their resignation at will, and then re-direct their reinstatement because the plot to remove the governor failed?
If you ask me, requesting Wike, the nominator, to nominate fresh persons in their stead would have created more semblance of statecraft, seriousness in governance and, more importantly, saved the governor’s face. It also would have gone a long way to demonstrate that some things are beyond trifles. Put differently, the notion that a crisis of that magnitude could be resolved absent collateral damage rest on a faulty premise.
Again, article six of the eight-point resolution apparently puts the governor in a catch 22 situation. Directing the governor to re-present the state Appropriation Bill that has already been passed and signed into law to Hon. Martins Amaewhule and his co-travelers, in my humble opinion, was another sore point in the document. I doubt it was a fitting consideration for a failed impeachment that shouldn’t have happened in the first place; not after the courts have already made pronouncements on the issues.
Your Excellency, I honestly believe you didn’t intend the current stalemate between the executive and the legislative arms of government in Rivers State. Nevertheless, that is the reality on ground, as the governor, on one hand, governs the state with an infiltrated state civil service; and Martins Amaehule with his ‘Assembly’ members, working at cross-purposes with the governor, dish out all the anti-executive bills they can imagine. A case in point is the latest piece of legislation coming from the ‘Assembly’. Again, one wonders,what Assembly worth its salt, wouldseekto elongate the tenure of the current local government chairmen and councilors; knowing they were elected and sworn into office for a three-year term that expires in June? The question is, do we now enact our laws retroactively?
Now, to the crux of the matter, Wike is a man with a history of political violence. His politics thrives in an atmosphere of strife and rancour. It cannot be over emphasized that he presently seeks to overheat the Rivers polity, and possibly make the state ungovernable. He is hell bent on accomplishing the intendment of a failed impeachment. His penchant for violence explains why Rivers State under his reign wore the appalling badge of a conquered territory. The state hasn’t exploded yet, given its current tenuous peace of the graveyard,is because, Gov. Siminalaye Fubara has refused to swallow Wike’s bait. In fact, his refusal to join issues with the man he calls master, and probably heat up the polity explains why restive Wike wants 2027 switch place with 2024 in the Nigeria political calendar.
Already, his vicious supporters are on the prowl, momentarily rehearsing vandalism and arson of public and private properties, with no qualms, even in broad day light. Sadly, the license to take laws into their hands springs from standing on Wike’s mandate. This much is evident in a video that has gone viral on the cyberspace. One would have dismissedthe ongoing rampageas the man’s political trademark, except that wily Wike claims to be standing on your mandate, even though he has been most cautious in defecting to his supposedly ‘cancerous’ APC.
Your Excellency, is it not curious that Wike and his supporters are the only band daily chanting “On your mandate we shall stand, Jagaban”, one year after you had contested and won the February 25, 2023 presidential election?
Of utmost concern is the disturbing silence of the Police, the DSS and other security agencies in the face of Wike’s supporters running amok. Rather, than live up to their constitutional billing, they seem to unwittingly nudge the people to resort to self-help. And while they continue in their ostrichism, the fire is being steadily stoked by the man who thinks Rivers State is his sole enterprise, and to balm his bruised ego could unleash the unimaginable.
It is however reassuring that Your Excellency is no stranger to Rivers politics and its combustive nature. As Dr. Peter Odili’s contemporary as governors, you were well abreast of what transpired in the state from 1999-2007. You were also a major player in the Amaechi-Wike debacle while the former was the occupant of Brick House. In fact, you were purported to have saved Amaechi’s skin from the Jonathans, when, in cahoots with Wike, they unleashed the federal might.
You saw Rivers State went upin flame from 2013-2019, all for Wike to succeed his Ikwerre brother as governor in a multi-ethnic state. You were also witnessto how thepolitically induced inferno incredibly extinguished itself as soon as Wike’s vaulting ambition was achieved. But while the carnage last, Rivers people lost their lives in their hundreds.
As governor, and for eight years, Wike ruled like a demigod, and the state, his footstool. He literally vetoed the constitution on Citizens’ Rights, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Association, Procurement, and Social Justice. In fact, one of the lion-hearted among us aptly tagged the Wike-era as the years of the Rivers of Blood.
Your Excellency, there is no better way to say Rivers State is presently sitting on a keg of gunpowder, while drifting daily towards the precipice. And if something is not done urgently to avert a repetition of its recent ugly past, tomorrow may be too late.
I have personally bemoaned the lot of the Rivers man since the dawn of the fourth republic in my book: The Rivers Season of Insanity. I would spare you the details therein. However, it may interest Your Excellency to know that as a Rivers man; I have tremendous respect for you, just as I envy what you have made of Lagos State. I’m therefore genuinely bothered that Rivers State may just be the odd state out as you are set to replicate the Lagos wonder across the federation. Rivers State can only andtruly share in the Renewed Hope, if Wike is restrained from plunging it into another round of bloodletting.
Much as it is the truth, I hate to reiterate, that in all her abundance, Rivers State can only boast of the loudest and most vaulting chief executives ever, since 1999. The allure to graduate from Brick House to Aso Villa has become an elixir, which those we elect to govern have not been able to extricate themselves from. And to make a bad situation worse, it remains the only state in Nigeria that flaunts an obnoxious injunction that insulates her past and serving governors from the ethics of good governance, such as transparency, accountability and probity.
I have no doubt in my mind that you already saw through Wike and his antics. And it is only a matter of time before you reined him in. My concern however, is that it shouldn’t happen only after he must have thrust the state into another round of massacre. Need I say, that going by his claim, what Wike delivered in last year’s election were Rivers votes, not his votes.
Ask the Jonathans if their alliance with Wike was worth the trouble, given the benefit of hindsight, and your guess will be as good as mine.
In a nutshell,Your Excellency, Rivers State has had more than her fair share of bloodletting since 1999. It is against this backdrop that I most fervently pray that the blood of Dr. Marshall Harry, Chief A. K Dikkibo, Hon. Monday Ndor, Hon. Charles Nsiegbe, Amb. Ignatius Ajuru, Hon. Monday Eleanya, Barr. Ken Aswuete and several other victims of assassination be allowed to water the peace initiative and advocacy of the incumbent governor.
Finally, Your Excellency, in view of the above, it is my humble submission that the eight-point resolution be revisited with the hope that it guarantees sustainable peace and harmony in the Rivers polity.
“The time is always right to do what is right.”
-Martin Luther King Jr.
Thank you for time and consideration.
Yours Respectfully,
Caleb Emmanuel Fubara
Fubara hails from Opobo Town
Background
On Thursday, February 15, 2024 at its 109th Legislative sitting, the House passed into Law, the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2024. The Bill repealed the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission (Amendment) Law, No. 3 of 2006 and further amended the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission Law of 1999. The Bill was sent to the Governor for his assent and after the statutory 30 days, the House re-passed the Bill into Law on 22nd March, 2024.
The Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission was established by the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission Law of 1999. Section 2 provides:
“The Commission shall comprise a Chairman and four other members who shall in the opinion of the Speaker be persons of unquestionable integrity.
“The Chairman and members of the Commission shall be appointed by the Rivers State House of Assembly acting on the advice and recommendation of the House Committee of Selection and shall in making the appointment be guided by the geographical spread and diversity of the people of Rivers State.”
The above section was repealed by the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission (Amendment) Law No 3, 2006. In Sections 2 and 3, the Amendment Law provides that:
S. 2 “Section 2 of the Principal Law is amended by repealing subsection (1) and substituting the following subsection:
“(1) The Commission shall comprise a Chairman and 4 (four) other members.
S. 3 “Section 2(2) of the Principal Law is amended by repealing subsection (2) and substituting the following subsection:
“(2) The Chairman and members of the Commission shall be appointed by the Governor subject to the confirmation by the House of Assembly and shall in making the appointment be guided by the geographical spread and diversity of the people of Rivers State.”
The import of the 2024 Amendment Bill passed into Law by the House is that the Governor will no longer have the power to appoint the Chairman and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission and the power of appointment shall be vested in the House of Assembly.
Legal Issues
The first issue to consider is the Constitutional power of the Governor. Section 5(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 provides that the executive powers of the State shall be vested in the Governor of that State.” Further, Section 176(2) provides that: “The Governor of a State shall be the Chief Executive of that State.”
This follows that the Governor is the Chief Executive Officer of the State Government and by the powers vested on him, is responsible for making appointments into various executive bodies, subject to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and other statutes. All Commissions and other parastatals are executive bodies under the control of the Governor. The House of Assembly Service Commission is an executive body and as such, the Chairman and members can only be appointed by the Governor. The House of Assembly has no powers to make any appointment into an executive body as no statutory body is under the control of the legislature. The Rivers State House of Assembly should not mistake the presence of the building of the Service Commission in its premises as conferring powers on the House to appoint the Chairman and members of the Commission.
The second issue to consider is the Constitutional alteration of 2023. In that alteration, the Third Schedule was amended to include State Houses of Assembly Service Commissions, which invariably follows that a State House of Assembly Commission is one of State bodies established by section 197 of the 1999 Constitution. Let’s be reminded that Section 198 of the 1999 Constitution gives the Governor the power of appointment into various executive bodies, subject to confirmation by a resolution of the House of Assembly of a State. The job of the Rivers State House of Assembly ends with the confirmation of the appointees.
The alteration to the Third Schedule, paragraph 1A provides that the composition, tenure, structure, finance, functions, powers, and other proceedings of the Commission shall be as prescribed by a law of the House of Assembly of the State. Notice that the appointment of the Chairman and members of the Commission is not listed. Therefore, it can be safely inferred that the power to appoint the Chairman and members of the House of Assembly Service Commission lies with the Governor, as is the case with the other bodies listed under Section 197 of the 1999 Constitution.
There is nothing in the Alteration that, by any stretch of imagination, can be inferred to confer the power of appointing the Chairman and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission on the Rivers State House of Assembly, notwithstanding the fact that the law creating the Commission was enacted by the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Thirdly, is the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission and its staff under the control of the State Government? To answer this question, we will take our voyage to Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution. That section gives the definition of a Public Service of a State to mean: “the service of the state in any capacity in respect of the government of the state and includes service as: clerk or other staff of the House of Assembly; member of staff of the High Court, the Sharia Court of Appeal, the Customary Court of Appeal or other courts established for a state by the Constitution or by a law of a House of Assembly; member or staff of any Commission or authority established for the state by this Constitution or by a law of a House of Assembly; staff of any Local Government Council; staff of any statutory corporation established by a law of a House of Assembly; staff of any educational institution established or financed principally by a government of a State; and staff of any company or enterprise in which the government of a State or its agency holds controlling shares or interest.
The purport of this section is that the Assembly Service Commission is not an appendage of the legislature but under the control of the State Government. Even at the national level, the members of the National Assembly Service Commission are appointed by the President in collaboration with the National Assembly.
Fourthly, what is the position of the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission Law vis-à-vis the National Assembly Service Commission Act? Section 4(5) of the 1999 Constitution provides: “If any Law enacted by the House of Assembly of a State is inconsistent with any law validly made by the National Assembly, the law made by the National Assembly shall prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of inconsistency, be void.”
Further, in A.G Bendel v AG Federation & 22 Ors (1982) 3 NCLRI, the Supreme Court held per Fatayi Williams CJN (as he then was) “neither a State nor an individual can contract out of the provisions of the Constitution. The reason for this is that a contract to do a thing which cannot be done without a violation of the Law is void.”
The fifth issue is: “can a statute revive a repealed statute?” In the case of Idehen v University of Benin, Suit No FHC/B/CS/120/2001, delivered on 19th December, 2001, the court held that:
“Contrary to the contention of the University, the effect of a repealing statute is to erase the repealed statute from the statute book. When a statute is repealed, it ceases to exist and no longer forms part of the laws of the land. In other words, the effect of the repeal is to render the repealed statute dead and non-existent in law. Like a dead person, it cannot be revived.”
The court also held in Onagoruwa v IGP (1991) 75 N.W.L.R (pt. 193) 593 that in law, a non-existent statute is dead and cannot be saved or salvaged by the court.
In Madumere v Onuoha (1999) 8 NWLR (Pt. 615) Pg 422, the Court of Appeal held that:
“the effect of repealing a statute is to obliterate it completely from the records of the Parliament as if it had never been passed. Such a law is to be regarded legally as a law that never existed…This means in effect that when a statute is repealed, it ceases to be an existing law under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
For the purpose of reviving your memory, the provision giving the Governor the power to appoint the Chairman and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission under the repealed 2006 Law provides in its opening paragraph:
“3. Section 2(2) of the Principal Law is amended by repealing section 2 and substituting the following section…” (emphasis mine).
Further, Section 6(1)(a) of the Interpretation Act provides:
“(1) The repeal of an enactment shall not revive anything not in force or existing at the time when the repeal takes effect.”
Please note that Section 318(4) of the 1999 Constitution provides that “The Interpretation Act shall apply for the purposes of interpreting the provisions of this Constitution.”
It follows from the above that the House cannot repeal Sections 2 and 3 of the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission (Amendment) Law No 3, 2006 to revive the already repealed provisions of the 1999 Law.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Rivers State House of Assembly lacks the powers, legal or otherwise, to remove the power of appointment of the Chairman and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission from the Governor and vest that power on themselves. The provision in the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission (Amendment) Law, 2024 seeking to vest that power on the House is in clear contravention of the 1999 Constitution, and therefore, a nullity in the eyes of the Law. See the case of MacFoy v UAC (1961) 3 All ER 1169 where the court held that you cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand.
In that case, Lord Denning stated: “If an act is void, then it is in law a nullity. It is not only bad, but incurably bad. There is no need for an order of court to set it aside. It is automatically null and void without more ado, though it is sometimes more convenient to have the court declare it to be so. And every proceeding which is founded on it is also bad and incurably bad. You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stay there. It will collapse.”
Rt Hon Ehie is Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt.
By: Edison Ehie