By John Okiyi Kalu
It may seem as though most of the folks urging Governor Sim Fubara to remain recalcitrant do not actually understand the enormity of the problem he is facing as a result of the recent Supreme Court judgement. Many erroneously liken his situation to that of Lagos State under Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
WRONG!!!
In 2004 President Olusegun Obasanjo directed that the allocations to local governments in Lagos State be withheld following the creation of additional local government areas by the then state government led by Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The directive affected only LGA allocations while FAAC and IGR receipts due to the state were not affected. Governor Tinubu and the state government continued to function using the considerable state IGR to fund the newly created LGAs, old LGAs and the state until the matter was resolved.
In contrast, the Supreme Court in a well considered judgement directed that allocations to Rivers State be stopped pending the proper passage of relevant Appropriation Acts. Kindly note that no state government can spend one kobo without appropriation by the state house of assembly and in the case of Rivers State the Supreme Court recognized at least 30 valid lawmakers who can sit and make laws. I understand that one legislator died while the other resigned to take up the job of Chief of Staff to Governor Fubara.
The implication of the Supreme Court judgement is that while Governor Fubara is not stopped from collecting IGR in the state, he can’t spend from there because there is no legal autuorization from the state house of assembly. He also won’t receive Federal allocations until he puts in place a valid budget for the state.
Any shishi disbursed from Rivers State account will lead to jail time for whoever paid it including the accountant general, cashier or any other government official involved. Even the Govenror himself cannot authorize payment of N1 to anyone because he is barred from doing so until there is approval of Appropriation by the house of assembly.
The Governor is totally trapped!
In order to comply with the recent ruling, Governor Fubara cannot pay salaries to workers including himself even though he has money from IGR to conveniently do so. He can’t also borrow from outside to pay because he is not permitted to spend. I can’t see how Rivers workers will be able to receive March 2025 salaries without an appropriation law in place.
In the same vein, I strongly believe Goveneor Fubara cannot pay the arrears of the 27 lawmakers at this time and will have to wait for Appropriation by the house. Otherwise he will go to jail along with those working with him, after his tenure as Governor. Those asking him to pay the lawmakers before the meeting he called are sorely mistaken. He lacks the legal authority to pay anybody at this time.
To worsen the situation, there was no valid Appropriation in the state for 2024 fiscal year, hence the Govenror cannot claim to be spending from last year’s budget, as permitted up to the first part of the new year 2025. In fact, all the money spent by Governor Fubara in 2024 from the state account was effectively declared illegal, therefore, punishable in law.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 308 of the 1999 constitution (as amended), the EFCC and co cannot arrest or try Governor Fubara if he dips his fingers into the purse of the state today because he has immunity from prosecution for now. But any government official that enables him to collect the money from the account of the state will swifly go to jail for stealing while anti-corruption agencies will wait till after the tenure of the Governor to commence legal action against him. Governors are not signatories to state accounts hence the need for involvement of another person to pay. The signatories to Rivers State bank accounts do not have immunity hence will not agree to incriminate themselves no matter how much they love the Governor and their state.
The only immediate foreseeable legal consequence to Governor Fubara if he spends any money belonging to the state , without appropriation, is impeachment in compliance with Section 188 of the constitution which only requires proof of “gross misconduct” for a Governor and/or his deputy to be removed from office. The 27 pro-Wild lawmakers make up enough numbers to impeach the Governor because they constitute more than 2/3 of the house members.
After that removal, Fubara will still have to face financial crimes law for spending money without valid appropriation. Indeed, Governor Fubara has already passed the required threshold to prove “gross misconduct” because of the illegal 2024 expenditures. In fact, the ruling by the Supreme Court is more than enough going by what I saw in the CTC of the judgement.
Way Forward.
Ordinarily, the proposed meeting with state legislators that was convened by Governor Fubara is a good first step towards resolution and possibly reconciliation except for the fact that there are newly uncovered elements of mischief-making. The invitation letter was written on Friday, 7th March to invite the legislators to the meeting by 10am of Monday, 10th of March. My sources have confirmed that the lawmakers did not physically receive the letter as at Sunday, 9th March when they saw it in the social media. When did sending such letters via social media constitute valid invitation? Ordinarily, the lawmakers should have received the letter before the close of legislative business on Friday (or whichever day they close for the week) then approve their visit with the governor in chamber.
Even with this anomaly that some are attributing to mischief, I still wish to plead with the lawmakers led by Rt Hon Martin Amaewhule to kindly meet with the governor for the sake of Rivers people. Obviously, without appropriation the lawmakers cannot also receive whatever is due to them and workers also won’t receive their March salaries.
Indeed, without appropriation, Rivers State will totally shut down in a matter of weeks and that cannot be desirable.
Speaker Amaehule, please take you colleagues to that meeting even if it means postponing to Tuesday or Wednesday. No price is too big to pay for peace and prosperity of a people.
While I sympathize with the legislators over the wrong way they were treated in the past, including ilegally withholding their salaries all these while, when no court had validly declared their seats vacant, it is my position that they show understanding and statesmanship for the sake of common folks of the state.
The issue of where they will sit as a house is not key because the law permits them to sit at any government owned facility, following the mindless bombing and subsequent demolition of the Rivers State House of Assembly complex. It is very legal for them to sit at the house of assembly quarters and make valid laws for the state but Governor Fubara should surrender those responsible for the bombing of the house to law enforcement for appropriate punishment and also rapidly reconstruct the house of assembly he demolished.
Finally, Governor Fubara should immediately seek out Hon Minister of the FCT, Barr Nyesom Wike, and have a one on one meeting with him. There are many associates of Minister Wike that can arrange that meeting and I am very confident that if honestly approached he will listen and possibly forgive and forget. I have seen him forgive past “enemies” over the years including those he had very explosive public bust up with like Minisher Dave Umahi, Senator Akpabio and former Governor Ben Ayade. I can’t see why he won’t forgive Fubara if approached rightly. The key is a willingness to implement the settlement reached by the President because I suspect the President is also not happy with the way Governor Fubara handled the issue.
Forget the public “warrior” posture of Minister Wike, he is essentially a rational and very kind man who is always willing to forgive. Most of his fights are for others and not himself. He gives that war vibe mostly to protect himself and his friends. I dare say that there is nobody Wike ever fought in public that didn’t first wrong him or renege on an agreement. Ask former Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, and HE Atiku Abubakar to tell you the truth about what really caused their issues with Wike.
The problem with political power is that if you are not careful those who depend on you for political and economic survival will mislead you and even guide you to fall on your sword. They will buy and deploy media personalities who do not care about the real issues as long as they keep collecting from you to feed themselves.
Many have already benefited from this crisis, courtesy of Rivers money, and I doubt that any of them will want the crisis to end now. It should end.
Now that Governor Fubara is in no position to dispense financial favors, it would be only a matter of time before those who misled him move on. But if the Governor closes his ears to them and move to reconcile with all the aggrieved parties, he will survive this phase of his political career, grow stronger and go ahead to become a great Governor of Rivers State. It is possible and doable.
Who Governor Fubara listens to at this time will decide his fate, but at the moment he is in a very deep hole that he should be crawling out from instead of digging more into. I am among those who wish and pray for a peaceful resolution that will at least allow Sim complete his first tenure in the minimum, but just like others, it is not in my hands. We all can only pray, advise and hope that wisdom prevails instead of braggadocio.
“Akonuche leeeeeeeeee”!!!
John Billions
