Prominent Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, strongly criticized the peace arrangement orchestrated by President Bola Tinubu between Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesome Wike on Tuesday, labeling it as ‘appalling’ and detrimental to the Ijaw people.
The peace initiative, initiated by Tinubu during a meeting in Abuja on Monday night, aimed to broker a ceasefire between the FCT minister and his political godson, Governor Fubara. The meeting, attended by President Tinubu, Wike, Governor Fubara, his deputy Mrs. Ngozi Odu, and former Governor Peter Odili, resulted in Wike and Fubara signing an eight-point agreement to resolve the state’s political turmoil.
Expressing his dissatisfaction at a press conference in Abuja, Chief Edwin Clark emphasized that the Ijaw nation would not accept any agreement that subjugates Governor Siminalayi Fubara to serve Wike. He stated that the Ijaw people are prepared to face the consequences of the current situation and are ready to go to court to oppose any attempt to transform Fubara, a democratically elected governor, into Wike’s political puppet.
While urging the youth to remain calm, Chief Clark underscored the determination of the entire Ijaw community to resist any act of tyranny and uphold the democratic principles that elected officials should not be subjected to servitude.
“It is obvious that Governor Siminialayi Fubara was ambushed and intimidated into submission. President Tinubu should know that with all the powers he possesses, he cannot override the Constitution.
“From all that transpired at the meeting, the laws of the land have not been obeyed. President Tinubu simply sat over a meeting where the constitution, which is the fulcrum of his office as President and which he swore to uphold and abide by, was truncated and desecrated.
“The eight resolutions reached, are the most unconstitutional, absurd, and obnoxious resolutions at settling feuding parties that I have ever witnessed in my life. As a matter of fact, some media captured it very well when they described it as directives,” he said.
“I’m appealing on behalf of all our people, to our dear son Governor Fubara to stand firm. The president of Nigeria has no authority over him. The president was elected, he too was elected.”
The PDP National Working Committee has firmly rejected the intervention of the President, asserting that lawmakers who defected to the APC could only regain entry into the Assembly through new elections.
After an emergency NWC meeting on Tuesday, the acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagum, addressed the press, advising the defectors not to be misled by promises from anyone in Abuja guaranteeing their return without new elections.
Damagum emphasized that there is no reprieve for the lawmakers who abandoned their seats by defecting from the PDP, citing Section 109 (1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended. According to this constitutional provision, individuals who defect from their original political party forfeit their seats unless they are able to secure a fresh mandate through a by-election
He stated, quoting Section 109(1)(g), “A member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if: being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected:
“Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored; or (h) the Speaker of the House of Assembly receives a certificate under the hand of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission stating that the provisions of section 110 of this Constitution have been complied with in respect of the recall of the member.”
The PDP chairman reiterated that because the members had abandoned their positions, the only way for them to return was to seek new nomination and re-election on the platform of any political party of their choosing.