The ongoing political crisis in Rivers State, is indisputably tending towards a episodic or cyclical political limbo as such that if a very drastic action is not taking to curtain the brouhaha it may degenerate to a state of limbo.
Prior to the just concluded Local Government Elections held on Saturday, 5th of of October in the South-South State, there have been series of court judgement and counter judgement as to who owned what, did what, where, when and how?
The back and forth political conundrum is apparently becoming laborious and tensed. With supporters of the two political gladiators in the state, incumbent minister of Federal Capital Territory and immediate past governor of Rivers State, Mr Onyesum Wike and his successor and incumbent governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalaye Fubara.
The two worrying factions in the last three days have thrown Rivers State into flames. While, the faction of the governor Fubara insisted that the state of affairs belong to the incumbent governor. The supporters of his (Fubara) principal are of a sharp contrast.
Harold Laswell, contextualized politics as who gets what when and how. This aphorism is indeed obviously uncontestable and sacrosanct with the situation of things currently in Rivers State at the moment.
There have been several questions on the lips of so many Nigerians as to what has informed such an episodic political drama with tensed atmosphere in the state?
Without any sense of prejudice, to any of the worrying parties, it is undeniably fundamental that the just concluded Local Government elections in River State, was not just a charade but a complete “subversion of rule of law”.
Again, the shenanigans in the elections on Saturday, has incontrovertibly explained the need for Federal government to as a matter of urgency, further strengthen the prerogative of the Supreme Court verdict on the Local Government Autonomy.
It is imperative to further withdraw the control of state electoral commission expediently and discourage state security agencies including the proposed state policing.
If state governors are not stripped of this promptly, like it played out in Rivers, during the Local Government Elections on Saturday, 5th October, governors shall incessantly abuse the immunity and take advantage of such paralephalea. Therefore, remains unarguably “power drunk” at their respective states.
Conjuctural and stochastic conflicting court judgements, most often in Nigeria, has become so worrisome and appalling. If judiciary indeed remains the last hope for a common man in Nigeria, exiguous court verdict to a large extent must be reviewed and discouraged henceforth.
It is also very imperative to understand the ideal process of “participatory democracy” as one of the imperatives of a contemporary democratic practice anywhere in the world.
If the entire registered voters of Rivers State is 3.5 million, according to the data of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and less than 10 thousand voters participated in the just concluded elections, it therefore implies that the entire process was a junk and political shenanigan.
The most catchy scene of the whole scenario in the aftermath of Rivers Local Government Elections is that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Ruling All Progressive Congress APC at the Federal level did not take in the election.
Ironically, the APP cleared the 22 out of 23 local governments areas of the River State. Therefore, sealed the two major parties away from victory as they ignored the election and refused to participate.
Sadly, more than three local governments secretariats have been set ablaze in the last two days and the situation is yet to be curtain entirely.
Much as the action of the Federal Government to withdraw the security agencies from the local government secretariats was a welcome development a lot of people has equally accused the Nigerian Police to have been complacent.
So the question I ask here is to what advantage or favour of the two worrying parties, if the Federal Government declare a State of Emergency in River State, should the tensed atmosphere persists?.
Adekunle Alaye, PhD.
Department of Political Science Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State Nigeria.
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