The ongoing politically motivated crisis in Rivers State must be handled with caution to prevent further lawlessness and instability. The judiciary, as an institution, is expected to maintain its integrity and protect its independence by working to avoid being politically compromised to harm democratic processes and the ethics of law.
The recent judgment by the Abuja Federal High Court division directing the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to stop releasing statutory monthly allocation to the State government was done out of bias and politically motivated plans to disrupt Fubara’s administration.
It is a grave injustice for a political party to promote anarchy, under the guise of personal interest, against the people’s will and the judiciary is expected to redeem and revitalize the failed system instead of allowing itself to be used to ruin the polity.
Law has a process, and once it is violated, its penalty takes effect. As stated in Section 109 (ig) of the 1999 Constitution, it was crystal clear that the embattled 27 Rivers State lawmakers who defected to APC lost their seats, and the business of government must not be halted simply because such a vacuum was created.
Nigeria is currently experiencing economic hardship, and if urgent steps are not taken to address the situation, crimes would continue to escalate as frustrated citizens resort to available means to make ends meet.
However, Sim Fubara committed no crime by choosing to serve Rivers people in the capacity of a governor, and using biasedly obtained court judgments to hunt him is to the detriment of Rivers people, Nigerians, and our nascent democracy.
The nation’s democratic values are fast eroding, dragged to the mud, carelessly derailing, and in the worst, hitting the wall if the judiciary fails to transform the system using the instrumentality of the law.
No nation advances in the face of injustice, and without bias, it behooves the judiciary to revamp the failing democracy through its demonstration of service integrity and respect for social justice.
As the embattled lawmakers contravened the provisions of the law, should they be honored for abandoning the party that sponsored their elections? Having violated the law, does the Constitution need to celebrate or punish them for their offenses?
Injustice is a crime against society and should not be condoned by anyone who understands the values of law and decency.
In a nutshell, Fubara’s administration has continuously succeeded in positively impacting Rivers people, even approving an 85,000 minimum wage for workers despite the state of the nation. His government should be emulated, not hunted for unjustifiable reasons.
Therefore, the Federal High Court judgment instructing the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to suspend remitting monthly statutory allocation to Rivers State government was not only biasedly obtained but also done in a calculated attempt to destabilize Fubara’s concentration on governance.
— Chief Emeka Kalu,
National Coordinator, PDP Coalition.
