The ongoing tussle between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the control of local government councils in Rivers State is a key litmus test why there should be a reform in the local government system. The disagreements over the control of the local government councils started even before the presidential and governorship elections in the state.
Some of the serious cases of violence before the general elections, especially killings happened at the council levels, where there are fewer policemen and other security operatives.
The party supporters who became fanatical, and used violence to score points, did so because they knew they could get away with it. But for a state that has jumped from one crisis to another in the last two years, the control of the councils would not have resulted to the present situation had the constitution clearly spelt out how the councils should be run.
A few days ago, the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt dissolved 22 local government areas in the state, allowing just one of the councils to remain in operation. The state has a total of 23 councils, but the one that remains in the hands of the APC is standing because it operates a different political calendar. PDP had gone to court, praying it to declare illegal the conduct of the local government election of May 23, 2015. The party had earlier gone to the same court asking it to stop the election.
It, therefore, did not come as a surprise when the presiding judge, Lambo Akanbi, declared in his judgement that the conduct of the council election by former Governor Rotimi Amaechi was illegal, and that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) disregarded a court order by conducting the election in the first place.
According to him, the pre-election case which he delivered judgement ought to have discouraged RSIEC from conducting the election, stressing that the conduct of the electoral umpire was an “abuse of the law.”
Akanbi said the judgement was aimed at defending democracy. On the day the judgement was delivered, there was a bomb scare outside the court after security operatives discovered a bag of explosives around the court premises.
Expectedly, while the APC declared the judgement as “sad and unfortunate,” the PDP noted that the court has “once more strengthened the confidence and trust of the people in the Nigerian judiciary as the last hope of the common man.” So, barely six weeks after taking over, the 22 APC chairmen were kicked out of office, while the state Assembly wasted no time in empowering Governor Nyesom Wike to appoint caretaker committee chairmen, which he did.
In his reaction, the state chairman of PDP, Mr. Felix Obuah said the judgement was a welcome development, noting that “the court has once more strengthened the confidence and trust of the people in the Nigerian judiciary as the last hope of the common man.”
But just as it appeared that the matter had been finally laid to rest, an intriguing development emerged. Prior to their sack, the chairmen had foreseen the likely outcome of the matter at the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt. They had been holding series of meetings, and found it necessary to withdraw from the suit barely 24 hours before the judgement. Already, they had taken the matter to the National Industrial Court in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State.
In any case, they had vowed not to honour the High Court judgement. According to the state publicity secretary of APC, Chris Fynebone, the judgement delivered by Justice Akanbi was “a shame.”
He added: “The APC has extensively and unequivocally made its position clear on the matter of the court ruling and there is no need to belabour it here.
“However, it is important to re-state that prior to the sham ruling of last Thursday, Justice Akanbi, Governor Wike, the Rivers State House of Assembly and other relevant parties were in possession of an interim Order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria given in writing under the hand of Hon. Justice J.T. Agbadu-Fishim, holden at Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on 22nd day of June, 2015…
“…The order also restrained the Inspector-General of Police or his agents and proxies from enforcing any purported action detrimental to the existence of the 23 chairmen and councils in Rivers State.” But a PDP chieftain, Engr. Harry Nana, however, faulted the position of the APC, urging the party to abide by the court’s ruling in order not to cause chaos, adding that no society makes progress by disregarding the court.
He noted that former Governor Amaechi deliberately conducted the council election less than a week before he left office in order to create problem for the Wike administration.
He said: “Why did Amaechi conduct the council election a few days before he left? Those who contested the election should have asked some pertinent questions. They knew there was a court order restraining the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission from going on with the election, yet they contested.
“The sacked council chairmen were used by Amaechi, and they know it. Honesty, I don’t think Amaechi knew what he was doing by conducting the election. Rivers State does not need unnecessary crisis at the point in time.
Wike needs all the support to rebuild the state, instead of people trying to distract him from Abuja.” The uncertainty caused by the comments coming from both parties, as well as the presence of armed policemen at the entrance of council headquarters, in a state still struggling to recover from acrimonious politics that seriously affected governance, is disturbing.
One observer blames politicians in the state for “being selfish,” and wants them to give peace a chance “in the interest of the state’s economic health.” His position drives home the point that the two parties somehow share the blame for the current crisis at the local government councils. The council election was the culmination of the state’s deep political tussle; a final test of might by the Amaechi and Wike camps.
The PDP had boycotted it, arguing that the outcome had been predetermined, and that Amaechi was using the election to lay landmines for the coming Wike administration. A reasonable number of the people of the state, who were already exhausted after expending energy in the presidential and governorship elections, played safe by sitting at home.
The voters’ apathy during the election prevented serious violent confrontation among party supporters unlike what obtained during the earlier elections.
The common step so far taken by the newlyappointed council chairmen is the dissolution of the committees set up by their predecessors, who fled the council headquarters despite the position of the APC against their sack. In contrast, at least, two years before the general elections, there were clashes between members of the PDP and APC. It was in a bid to stem the tide of violence, which claimed some lives that led to several peace pacts among the leading governorship candidates in the state.
While Amaechi had no qualms using care-taker committee chairmen, who he handpicked to run the councils for two years running, and only organised election a week before he left office; the APC equally had its own internal challenge as some of the chairmen, who had been dropped and replaced by those who had worked or delivered for the party, staged protests at party’s secretariat.
For the PDP, under Wike’s leadership, the control of the local government councils remains central in the new political order, and the real deal, because not controlling the resources at the level of government that is nearest to the people, means that Amaechi’s men would remain in charge. In the politics of Rivers, the situation is akin to political suicide. The harmony that exists in the PDP stems from the fact that no politician has been used and dumped yet by the party.
This presently works in the party’s favour. Yet, there is uneasy calm as the caretaker chairmen and their committees take charge at their various councils, despite the position of the APC, vowing to disregard the court judgement that paved the way for the caretaker chairmen. In anticipation of public unrest and possible breakdown of law and order, the state police command had warned against protests in any part of the state.
Security personnel were present at some of the councils, but they did not prevent the movement of staff. The chairmen, all pledging to correct the mistakes made by their predecessors, In Obio/Akpor council, the caretaker chairman, Hon. Bright Amaewhule accused the former chairman, Hon. Nnanta Chimenem Weli of looting the council and carting away properties belonging to the local government.
He said: “The former chairman looted, destroyed and carted away properties belonging to Obio Akpor. Please go to the chairman’s office, you will see it has been vandalized; go the office of the HPM the same thing.
If you also go to the office of the Secretary to the Council you will see it has been vandalised. “I don’t know what APC means by change when their members cannot withhold their hunger for material things which they can buy.” In Khana, Hon. Sunny Bekawan, who has also resumed work, urged the youth of the area to shun violence and any form of protest that could throw the council into crisis, just as he urged staff to resume work. “Everywhere is peaceful for now, and we want it to remain that way. I owe the people of the council security. For that reason, I will not allow a breakdown of law and order. We urge the staff of the council to come to work, because there is a lot of work to be done,” Bekawan said.
In Emuoha council, the chairman, Hon. Bright Ikonwa, expressed anger that the immediate past chairman, Hon. Allen Nma left the council in a mess, explain that the whole place was littered with refuse and overgrown weeds.
Ikonwa, who led the members of his committee round the council on inspection, noted that onetime chairman, Hon. Emeka Woke, contributed immensely in making the council the envy of many, but that the gains were reversed by Nma. “You can see how dirty the whole place. How can somebody who is working and receiving salary decide to leave the council dirty? The task before us now is to keep the council clean, and fit for work,” he said. Ikonwa also dissolved all the committees in the council.
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