Tenure Of Local Govt Councils And The Scramble For Political Structure In Rivers State
Of the four substructures, the local government councils are most critical to ‘winning’ elections. They control politics at the grassroots. They dispense largesse and ensure loyalty at the grassroots. The council helmsmen are hatchet men for governors in the LGAs.
The House of Assembly, Local Government Councils, State Executive Council and the State Party Executive are at the core of the so-called political structure in Rivers State.
Of the four substructures, the local government councils are most critical to ‘winning’ elections. They control politics at the grassroots. They dispense largesse and ensure loyalty at the grassroots. The council helmsmen are hatchet men for governors in the LGAs.
It is therefore strategic for former Governor Nyesom Wike to plant his cronies as Chairmen of the Local Government Councils, as he did in the Party, the State Executive Council and the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Twenty-one of the twenty-three Local Government Chairmen are loyal to Chief Nyesom Wike and not to incumbent Gov. Siminalayi Fubara. Some exhibit outright disrespect for the sitting governor. The only notable exceptions were those of Opobo/Nkoro and Bonny LGAs and understandably so.
The situation is dire, almost hopeless for Governor Siminalayi Fubara. He is like a king without a throne, tossed about, dictated to and blackmailed with impeachment for the slightest of reasons.
How does Gov. Fubara take control of the political structure? How does he get rid of the opposing party executives, the recalcitrant Rivers State House of Assembly members, the disloyal Executive Council Members and the dissident Council Chairmen? All of whom are loyal to former Governor Nyesom Wike.
The battle opens at different fronts. Scheme and schism. Media wars and thanksgiving rallies. Law suits in different courts at different levels. The battle for the soul of Rivers State is on.
Monday June, 17, 2024 approaches. The end of the official tenure of the council chairmen. Tension everywhere. Threats and counter threats. Arguments everywhere. The grassroots substructure is up for grabs.
Why did Governor Fubara keep it so late. Every governor before him, apart from Odili, sacked council executives. But Governor Fubara allows them to serve out their tenure.
The Wike camp insists on local government elections or tenure elongation. They can’t stand Gov. Fubara appointing caretaker committees because that will take the local council substructure out of their control.
They want local government elections because Wike controls the PDP and APC structures in the state. Wike can impose his loyalists as chairmanship and councilorship candidates on both parties. He can deny Gov. Fubara’s candidates the PDP platform. He can deny PDP members participation in the primaries to select candidates for the elections.
Wike appointed members of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC who will declare all his candidates winners.
But Governor Fubara knows what Wike knows. The governor knows that by appointing caretaker committees he will effectively take over the local government substructure. He will take control of the LGAs until the issues of party executives and RSIEC are resolved.
Sensing danger, the pro-Wike House of Assembly amendments and re-ammends the Rivers State Local Government Law and extends the tenure of the councils by six months, pending the conduct of elections. The Council Chairmen threaten to remain in office even after their tenure.
Nature abhors vacuum, they shout. Tenure elongation is a doctrine of necessity. Caretaker committees are strange to the Constitution, they argue, even as some of them were Caretaker Committee Chairmen under Gov. Wike and approved by the same members of the Assembly.
They were still shouting and arguing when government quietly approached the courts and got the amended local government law nullified and declared unconstitutional.
June 18, Governor Siminalayi Fubara directs the Heads of Local Government Administration to take over the management of the councils. Rivers people in their numbers take over the premises of several council secretariat, ensuring that the ex-chairmen couldn’t enter their former offices. Civil disobedience.
June 19, Gov. Fubara administers oath of office to Chairmen of Local Government Caretaker Committees and alas, the twenty-one pro-Wike council chairmen are effectively dislodged.
Meanwhile, the recalcitrant Rivers State House of Assembly members are trapped in their own snare, the disloyal Executive Council Members have finally, finally resigned.
The battle is not yet won but victory is in the horizon, the people’s victory. The Police may have sealed the council premises, the courts may still have to deliver judgements but the people will always win and win to the end.
