E.K Clark’s PANDEF Can’t Reconcile Wike And Fubara –  Hon. Igbini

Hon. Igbini Emmanuel, is a politician and mutual friend of former Governor Wike and Governor Fubara. In this interview, he predicts that the Supreme Court will not sack either Governor Fubara or the Hon. Martin Amawhule-led members of the Rivers State House of Assembly but that the court will nullify the 2024 budget presented by Governor Fubara.

Excerpts:

I am sure you heard the good news that elders of Pan Niger Delta Elders Forum (PANDEF) led by Pa E.k Clark, have finally decided to intervene in the crisis between former governor Wike and governor Fubara to reconcile them. This should gladden your heart given the efforts you have been making to also reconcile both of them.

I would be happy to see Wike and Fubara reconcile, even today, but unfortunately I don’t see Elder E.K Clark-led PANDEF being able to do this. They can’t!  So I am not one of those people excited by the news that this PANDEF wants to reconcile them

Nigerians will be shocked to hear this from you. But why do you dismiss this planned effort of PANDEF?

With due respect, how can the same PANDEF which has Elder E.K Clark and some members of PANDEF be the same to reconcile Wike and Fubara? You expect Wike to trust them to be objective? If you were in Wike’s shoe, will you trust them to be sincere about the reconciliation after the unfair and manifestly biased position they took against Wike when this unfortunate minor disagreement between him and Fubara, started? Who will submit himself or herself to a Judge of a Court who has shown manifest bias against him or her? Who does that?

What bias and unfair position did Elder E.K Clark took against Wike on this matter? People believe that they acted fairly against Wike in pursuit of the truth.

What is the fair position did Elder E.K Clark and some of the very vocal elders of PANDEF took or the truth they told on this matter? Can you mention just one?

Pa E.K Clark condemned what so many people insist is the unfair attempt by Wike to be overbearing on governor Fubara, seeking to make him his puppet governor and the attempt to also impeach the governor last year. Are these not cogent reasons for E.K Clark to ask President Tinubu to call Wike to order and also asked PDP to sack him from the party?

No, my brother. Remember I was the same person who last year publicly and strongly condemned the planned attempt by Wike to use members of Rivers State House of Assembly to impeach Fubara; I did so because from the information at my disposal, Fubara did not commit any iota of gross misconduct contemplated by section 188 of the 1999 Nigerian constitution, as amended, as valid ground for impeachment of a governor of Nigeria.

The dark days of removal of former governor Balarabe Musa of Kaduna state by the then NPN dominated Kaduna State House of Assembly, without proof of gross misconduct by the Governor, is over and for good. Having said this, I insist that Elder E.k Clark and some elders of PANDEF were unfair in their condemnation of Wike. What is the truth about all this allegations have they made against Wike for which they descended so heavily and unfairly on him?

Have they told the whole truth about the reason for the unfortunate minor disagreement between Wike and Fubara? No, they have not; either because they don’t know the whole truth or they know but chose to be unfair and biased against Wike. I know the truth because I am a mutual friend of both Wike and Fubara who has remained very firm and without bias, in bluntly telling both of them what and where they did wrong.

For this reason, both Wike and Fubara at different times directly called me to express their unhappiness with me whenever I hit them so hard but still I remained the same person they so respect and take seriously, my position on this matter. You can go confirm this from them. Fubara has called me to tell me what went wrong. He told me that he had done everything Wike asked him to do but that there is only one thing he was not ready to do if Wike asks him to do.

This one thing Fubara vowed he will not do has nothing whatsoever to do with the governance of Rivers State or the funds belonging to the state rather it is something very personal to him. But mind you, Fubara did not say Wike ever asked him to do such one thing or ever made any move to ask him to do so. So it is neither here nor there. It is Fubara’s thinking but the point he tried to convey to me is that he did everything to please Wike and therefore sees no reason Wike is unhappy with him. In fairness to Fubara, this is true. Fubara as governor was still very loyal and very submissive to Wike. I confirmed this from an independent and trusted source. On the other hand, the only valid reason Wike gave for his unhappiness with Fubara is accusing Fubara of suddenly rushing to fraternise with the same PDP chieftains who fought him because of his decision to choose Fubara to be his successor. This he calls betrayal. I also agreed with Wike on this. Fubara did wrong because he rushed too early and too fast in doing so despite the hell Wike literarily went through to make him governor.

He should have allowed Wike to initiate such reconciliation, and I know Wike would have done so at an appropriate time. I know many people who were on former governor Amaechi’s camp and fought against Wike to be governor, but Wike still went later to reconcile with them and have them in his camp till date.

 I am still pained that Wike and Fubara failed early enough to quickly resolve their minor disagreement as I pleaded with them to do but instead allowed their common political opponents to exploit and escalated it to this sad extent causing loss of lives, burning and demolition of River state House of Assembly Complex and the bombing of Secretariats of some local government councils and political parties. This is what saddens and cause me to use very harsh words on them, sometimes. They both fail to understand the deeper intrigues in Nigerian politics where the interest of states or geopolitical zones is placed far above the interest of Nigeria and political parties.

President Tinubu intervened but could not reconcile them. PDP Governors also tried without success. Now you dismiss the plan by PANDEF to. Who then do you think can reconcile them?

I am the only one who can reconcile both of them because I am firm and unbiased. I have never asked for a kobo or received even a kobo from either of them instead I have been spending my precious time and resources in trying to reconcile them. But sadly with the unfortunate level of escalation of the misunderstanding, no true and lasting reconciliation can happen until after the Supreme Court pronounces on the case of the alleged defection of Speaker Martin Amawhule and 26 other legislators of the Rivers State House of Assembly from PDP to APC on December 13, 2023. This issue is what Wike and Fubara rely so much on to survive against each other but I have made it very clear to them that they both will be shocked with the expected outcome of the Judgment of the Supreme Court on this issue.

Why would they be disappointed by the expected Judgment of the Supreme Court?

Fubara and his supporters expect the Supreme Court to declare vacant, the seats of Martin Amawhule and others and once this happens, it will be all over for Wike in Rivers State Politics. On the other hand, Wike and his supporters are expecting the judgment to retain Martin Amawhule and others as Speaker and members of the River State House of Assembly, and with this; they will immediately launch impeachment proceeding against Fubara and remove him from office. Neither of this will Wike or Fubara get. Never! I have said this repeatedly that the Supreme Court cannot and will not make itself available for either of them to use for the destruction of Rivers State in pursuit of their personal and selfish interest because their fight is not about the interest of Rivers state but their individual interests. Neither Wike nor Fubara owns Rivers state, instead they both have been very lucky to be who they are today by the sheer benevolence of the good spirit of Rivers state for which reason they must be very grateful and humble. Are there no hundreds of thousands of sons and daughters of the state who are in many ways far more qualified, intelligent, educated and blessed to be governors of Rivers state? Both of them must not be arrogant and ungrateful like the people Prof Chinua Achebe described in his novel, Things Fall Apart, who the benevolent spirits cracked their palm kernel but they failed to be humble.

What is your expectation of the judgment of the Supreme Court?

I have said it before that the Supreme Court will retain Martin Amawhule and others as valid members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and also annul any planned impeachment of governor Fubara

Is it not clear to you that these lawmakers defected to APC and therefore automatically lose their seats?

First, there is no word like “automatically” in section 109(1g) of the 1999 Nigerian constitution, as amended. It is trite in law that you cannot add or remove what is not in the constitution.  Second, this section makes a proviso which only the Supreme Court can interpret. It is not self-invoking as some people think. Thirdly, assuming but without conceding that by mere waving of some pieces of rags which bears the same colour as the flag of APC and also that these members swore to affidavits in court declaring that they defected from PDP to APC, did they not state that they did so because of the crisis at the national level of PDP? Is anybody with good conscience denying the fact that indeed there was and still is, major crisis at the national level of PDP?

Fourthly, defection is not a mere statement of intention but a due process that must begin and end without which it is a nullity. Defection means resigning from a political party to join another political party. This means the process must begin with resignation from PDP after which joining of APC. These two involve processes that they must follow and complete. PDP process for any member to quit the party is clearly stated in its constitution.

Did Martin and others follow this process? No, they didn’t. Without following and completing the process of denouncing their membership of PDP they can’t even commence the process of joining APC. The reason being that they can’t validly be members of PDP and APC at the same time. So, as far as the constitutions of Nigeria and those of PDP and APC are concerned, Martin and his colleagues never defected from PDP, they remain members of PDP.

The only thing in my considered opinion is also the fact that they lost their constitutional powers as legislators the very moment on December 13, 2023 that they took their joke too far and to public domain claiming that they have defected to APC. This joke made it possible for their action to be challenged in court of law. They can’t be paid their salaries and allowances from December 13, 2023 to the day soon that the Supreme Court will reinstate them. This then settles the other dispute as to whether Fubara acted right by presenting the 2024 budget to three members claiming to be the valid presiding officers and members of the House of Assembly?

As far as I know, God forbids the day Nigerians allow such level of ridicule of our constitutional democracy by any Governor or President that three or four or less than 1/3 of total members of legislators to receive and pass budget into law. I advised Fubara against it but he chose under pressure to listen to Femi Falana, SAN. The Supreme Court will annul that 2024 budget and direct him to represent it to Speaker Martin leadership.