BREAKING: Replacing Fubara With Ex-Naval Chief May Suggest Nigeria Misses Military Rule – Audu Ogbeh
The declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu has continued to generate mixed reactions. On Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, former Agriculture Minister Audu Ogbeh warned that bringing a former service chief to replace an elected governor is sending a wrong signal that Nigerians still desire military rule. The former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it is unfair for the president to suspend Governor Siminalayi Fubara and retain the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who are both actors in the political crisis.
Enjoy the excerpts:
What is your stance on the decision of President Bola Tinubu?
I think that the use or declaration of states of emergency is something that we should avoid as much as possible. It’s a very dangerous trend because it is definitely not going to be always fair and just. It will always leave a bitter taste in the mouths of those affected and a certain sense of victory and triumph in the minds of those who think they have won. In a country where ethnicity is a serious matter, and where we need to be a bit cautious about what we do, it is something we should apply only very sparingly. That’s my reaction.
What we saw in Ekiti, what we saw in Plateau State under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, can you compare it with what we are seeing in Rivers State?
Well, on each of these occasions, I was chairman of the party. The President had more information than I had. Therefore, making comments on how precarious he thought the situation was at the time would be difficult for me. What I think we should do after this one is that we must avoid the use of this provision as much as possible. I think that the president is a well-informed individual, powerful enough to organise a group of persons with sufficient moral and social authority to sit down with the main actors and resolve some of these issues before they get to the point of proclamations of states of emergency. We all know that the ethnic tinderbox in Nigeria is very easy to inflame. We don’t want fights, we don’t want riots, and we don’t want assassinations.
When these problems began, in fairness to the president, he did call the Rivers State gentleman to the villa once. That didn’t seem to work. We should, as soon as possible, even before the six months pass, the president should find solid individuals in River State, men, women and youths to sit down and ask them to mediate in this matter and find out exactly where the problems lay and appeal particularly to the two warring persons. Rivers State is bigger than any individual. We as a country and as countrymen are not interested in watching a situation where Rivers State and the entire Niger Delta will go up in flames. Nigeria has lived off the Niger Delta for 40 years. We appreciate what they’ve done for Nigeria because their oil has been fuelling our expenditure. Nobody wants a crisis in the Niger Delta.
When the matter came before the National Assembly for voting, I would like to suggest to the National Assemblymen to install a capacity in the future for individual voting because someday, 10 to 20 years from now, their children and grandchildren and researchers would like to find out how individuals voted on a particular bill. Hays and nays do not give us a clear picture of the position and the moral authority of individual senators or members of the House. Nobody should hide under a shadow. If you want a vote, say so. If you don’t want it, say so. These hays and nays are a camouflage and don’t work. I was a Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly in Benue State between 1979 and 1982. So, if issues like that came up, and we wanted to know who stood in what position on a bill, we did counted ourselves.
Are you worried because there are those who say the constitution is silent on whether the president can suspend any elected members as in the case of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Mrs Ngozi Odu, and the House of Assembly members?
FILES: Martins Amaewhule (L) and Siminalayi Fubara (R)
Well, I must say that the decision of the President should not overrule the vote of the people who made that individual governor. The people of Rivers voted for somebody; the people of Plateau voted for somebody. If that person is not doing the right thing, is it morally right for an individual to have the authority to remove him from office? That’s something that the nation should debate, and that’s something that needs to be amended or corrected.
As an elder statesman, how do you think the president should have handled this for those who have accused him of bias in this matter?
L-R: Combo photo of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, President Bola Tinubu, and Gov Siminalayi Fubara
A president is a man who should have sympathy. The job of the president is a superhuman assignment. That man, every day of the week, must be ageing like a month because of the kinds of problems that come before him. So, sometimes, it’s almost impossible to imagine the pressure he goes through. However, I suggest that a reconciliation committee should be set up as soon as possible. And that in the future, when such a situation arises, these individuals who are the warring factions should be brought before senior citizens of the state and told the plain truth.
There’s always somebody who is doing far more or far less than he or she should, and there’s always somebody who is too aggressive for the rest of the crowd. I think the people of Rivers – senior citizens should have the courage to say to such a person, if you did this, it is wrong, if you didn’t do that, it is wrong but removing an elected person is something that may not exactly rhyme with political and democratic ideas because that’s to say that after an election, the archbishop of the state or the chief imam of the state or the oldest traditional ruler there can say to the governor: ‘We don’t want you anymore’. And he packs his luggage and goes. After all, the president did not vote in the state. That’s something that we need to look into. I mean, it’s a very tricky matter.
If you were in the president’s shoes, what would you do?
I’ll tell you what I would have done. One more meeting wouldn’t do any harm to the larger committee of elders of Rivers State to let them hear the arguments of both sides. So that by the time you say, look, if you can’t check yourselves, I may have to take a more drastic decision, the whole world will know that you tried very hard.
I know a president is a person under superhuman pressure, and having met with them once, and the matter didn’t go well, he opted for what appears to be the immediate solution. On the other hand, the fact that one is an appointee of his and the other is an elected person makes it unfair to remove the one you didn’t appoint and do nothing about the one you’re appointed. I think that’s one of the arguments that people are putting forward. But in the future, elders and party members should be able to get involved in dealing with these matters.
There are those who are afraid of what a more autocratic leader could use the Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution to do. What do you think we need to correct urgently?
Well, if certain sections of the constitution are beginning to show themselves as problematic, we should begin to think of constitutional amendments because the only forum that can handle that is the National Assembly. People should submit memoranda. On the other hand, do we just leave it as it is, hoping that the president will always be fair and balanced in these decisions? As I said, a president is a man or woman under terrible pressure. However, removing somebody who was elected by an entire state by a sentence from one individual elsewhere may look a bit tricky and not to say unjust, so it’s something that Nigeria should begin to debate after this.
We understand that the administrator of Rivers State has officially resumed duty. If you were to advise Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, what would you be telling him tonight?
President Bola Tinubu swears in Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (rtd) as sole administrator for Rivers State in Abuja on March 19, 2025
Well, he has an assignment. He should carry on quietly, listen to all sides, find out what the grievances are, and be fair and just as far as is humanly possible. The only other thing that I’m asking is: Why is it that each time there is this suspension of a governor, a military person is put back in place? Do we miss military rule, or are we suggesting that civilians are incapable of governing themselves?
Obasanjo did it twice, in fact, thrice, and we have it again. What’s the logic? This is why, in the first place, this whole imposition of a state of emergency should be avoided. It was not done in Borno during Boko Haram, even though to every sense and degree, the situation there was far more chaotic than we have now. When Boko Haram was running riots, that’s all, but it’s up to the president. Since the constitution doesn’t say you can only pick this or that person, the president is free to do so, but it’s also sending a funny signal that civilians can’t do the job themselves. That’s not a good one. That’s why civilians themselves should be more responsible. Elected individuals should behave themselves and not carry on as if it’s a holiday and that they can do as they wish because they are sending the wrong signal to society.
If you are elected, be humble. If you are appointed, be humble. If you are an appointed person, you’re primarily a public relations officer. Behave yourself, and don’t engage in warfare because it may give you the kicks. It’s not right. And there’s no reason why individuals in the state cannot get together to iron out problems. We had this challenge when I was PDP chairman, it wasn’t easy. On each occasion, the decisions were taken. You were not always told what was going to happen, and then we tried to patch it up. I went to each of these states after the suspensions, and the tension was very high, but somehow, we managed to calm it down. It’s not something that should happen too often.
