Nigeria’s fitful attempts to clean up its politics is suffering a seismic setback in Rivers State where bitter politics of succession is combined with the desperation of politicians to pollute the environment.
The flames which licked up some local government secretariats in Rivers State may have only flared up on 7th October 2024, but their provenance lay in the past, in the bitter rivalry between Nyesom Wike, former governor of the state and current minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and Siminalayi Fubara, his successor and the incumbent governor of the state.
The recent judgment of the Supreme Court on autonomy for local government areas has apparently turned local governments in the state into charged battlegrounds for the former governor and his successor with their supporters at each other’s throats.
What is clear is that the fiery chaos in Rivers State is the handiwork of politicians who place personal interests above principles of state policy, and the the public, defying and denying what may burn in the process which invariably is Nigeria’s fragile commitment to the rule of law. It is they who must now be forced to leash their rabid dogs. It is as simple as that. The Nigerian state cannot be forced to wait on them or for them as no state which works properly can afford to.
Those responsible for the arson must be prosecuted and incarcerated. They are criminals because only criminals burn public buildings, and they must be treated as such.
Again, what is the governor doing conducting elections in defiance of valid court orders? As the chief law officer of the state, he should be seen complying with the law embodied in court decisions at all times rather than pulling out bag after bag of tricks and maneuvers to shirk his responsibility.
At inauguration, every governor in Nigeria pledges allegiance to the constitution which is the law establishing courts. But like most Nigerian presidents, these governors then go on to devise crafty ways to circumvent the constitution and all those who enforce it. As expected, this does incalculable harm to the rule of law in Nigeria.
Nigeria needs to dig deeper to pull out new ways by which the Rule of law can find a real presence in Nigeria beyond what is on paper and in the lip service of extremely unreliable politicians.
The unfortunate situation in Rivers State ominously foreshadows what is to come in many states across the country. For many years, local governments in Nigeria operated only at the whims of state governors with no form of autonomy, financial or otherwise. The state of many rural areas across the country is testament to the neglect those areas have suffered because the closest tier of government to them has failed to function properly for decades.
The supreme court judgment can change that, but it is only if the forces holding Nigeria to ransom allow or are forced to relinquish their hold.
As for those young people who continue to allow themselves to be used as tools by desperate politicians, the time for common sense is now. Folly has been extortionate for many years, and having been emboldened by indifference, it is now proving fatal.
Why burn public buildings when it will only give thieving politicians an opportunity to dip even deeper into the public till?
Why the descent into violence when they know that the parties and politicians they are fighting for don’t really care about them?
Politicians in the country must do more to clean up their politics and de-escalate the tension in the body politic. No one’s grievance should become projectiles raining down on public buildings, or flames burning them down.
While Nigerians wait for the holy grail of political reforms, those in the rural areas must recognize the historic opportunity offered by the Supreme Court decision on financial autonomy for local governments. They must now play their part if the local governments are ever to wriggle free from the suffocating grasp of state governors.
Their part begins from participating in elections into local government areas, and insisting that their votes must count.
Ike Willie-Nwobu,
