God is God. When Moses asked God to introduce Himself to him so that he will understand how he can explain God to the children of Israel, whom God was sending him to liberate from the crushing bondage of the Egyptians, God simply introduced Himself as the “I AM THAT I AM”.(Exodus 3:14). This refers to the immutability of the most High God. He changes not. The same yesterday, today, and forever. God created the earth and gave it to the children of men with a stern warning that he will not share His glory with any man. God issued this warning because He understood that when he blessed the devil so much as His number one angel, the devil rebelled against Him and wanted to be like the Most High God. Of course devil failed and was perpetually cursed.
To ensure that man never reached the height of challenging His authority to govern the earth, God introduced death on man which terminates man whenever man becomes proud and arrogant or old. God acknowledged that he endowed some people exceptionally to be able to lead others but warned that when the people he specially endowed start playing God to their subordinates, He will bring those people playing God down to their graves even if it means bringing strangers to kill them. God mocked those playing God to remember to tell those strangers He will send to kill them that they are God when they will be killed. (See Ezekiel 28:1-19 of the Holy Bible).
Hear God, “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 28:6-10).
For the avoidance of doubt, God had done this in the past. Adolf Hitler became so powerful that he exalted himself to the level of God. He killed about six million Jews. When God sent strangers to kill him, he didn’t stand to tell them he is God. He committed suicide. Sadaam Hussein became so powerful as President of Iraq, that he threatened the whole Arab world after taking over Kuwait illegally. When God sent the Americans to hang him, he didn’t remember to tell them that he was God. Recall also that Muammar Gaddafi was a maximum leader of Libya, who became so powerful that he requested to be made the King of Kings of Africa. He ruled his people with iron hands. When God sent the United Nations to rain bombs upon him, he decided to hide in holes, yet he was brought out of the hole and killed in the street. He didn’t remember to tell them that he was God.
I feel very surprised that after knowing these things, people still want to arrogate to themselves that they are God. There’s nothing wrong with being a father, but once God is added to it, the idea of Godfather sets in and the usurpation of the attributes of God ensue creating the favourable atmosphere for God to intervene.
I have followed the happenings in Rivers State with much keen interest. Let me confess that I have not met in person with either the former Governor of Rivers State and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nyesom Wike, or the present Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara. I speak as an independent, unbiased third party seeking peace and progress for my country, realising that any injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and as a lawyer who has the duty to uphold the rule of law.
Former Governor and now FCT minister Wike believes that he installed Fubara into office and as such Fubara must do whatever he wants and if he does not do that, he will remove him from office, and heaven will not fall. This runs contrary to what God said that all powers belong to God and He gives power to whomsoever He wishes. During Wike’s interview, he said who the hell does Fubara think he is? Referring to Ijaw people and their threat to take actions if Fubara is impeached, Wike said rubbish! As a sitting President, if you threaten me that you will blow up everywhere, let everywhere be blown up. This indicates a leader who does not care about the consequences of his actions on the people provided his desires are carried out.
In a democracy, sovereignty belongs to the people not to any godfather. It’s only the people who have the residual powers to remove their elected representatives if the people are determined. This happened during the regime of Gov Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State when he was elected by the people of Ekiti State in an off-cycle gubernatorial election in which the House of Assembly was dominated by members of the opposition party. They wanted to remove him before the legislative tenure was over. The people of Ekiti State chased out the members of the House of Assembly and withstood them until their tenure elapsed. Fayose completed his tenure as most of the HOA members were not voted back to the House. God still ruled. If the Rivers State people insist Fubara will finish his tenure, Wike may be surprised what they can do if he wants to impeach Fubara.
The denigration of Ijaw people still lacks historical backing. When Ijaw people could not tolerate the marginalization of their people in the economic development of their place despite the volume of oil revenue coming out from their land, they took up arms against the Federal Government until the Federal Government came down to negotiate with them. Today even Wike admitted that the man who was the fighter that fought for this liberation, Government Tompolo, is now hired by the same government he fought to be in charge of the security of the whole oil installations. Government dared the Ijaw and heaven fell. Wike is daring the Ijaw again, I pray for peace.
The immediate cause of the present crisis was the Supreme Court judgement which recognised the Martins Amaewhule faction of the Assembly despite their open defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Immediately Fubara received the judgement of the Supreme Court, his first utterance was that he will obey the judgement. He started by advising the local government council chairmen to vacate their seats for new local government elections. He agreed to represent the budget to the Amaewhule faction.
The Amaewhule faction on hearing about the judgement of the Supreme Court issued a 48-hour ultimatum to represent the budget. They extended the ultimatum by another 72 hours. Gov Sim Fubara wrote, through the Secretary of Government of Rivers State, inviting the members of the House of Assembly (HOA) for a meeting to discuss the Supreme Court judgement. They turned it down. The Governor overlooked it and rather decided to meet their deadline to represent the budget, they turned it down and locked him out of the Assembly premises. The excuses were even more ridiculous. The first excuse was that the Secretary of Government of Rivers State signed the letter. The second excuse was that the Governor didn’t inform them that he was coming to the House. Documentary evidence has shown that the second excuse was a lie. Be that as it may, how can a House who gave ultimatum to the Governor be complaining that they were not informed that the Governor was coming when Governor was actually obeying their own summon?
The truth is that none of those excuses were genuine. There’s a godfather who believes that Fubara is not playing his game enough and should be removed. He believes that the wind is in his sails and he can now do whatever he pleases and heaven will not fall. The House of Assembly members did not allow the Governor in to represent the budget because they have not received instructions from their godfather on what to do with the Governor.
Wike at one time condemned his predecessor, Chibuike Amaechi, for playing godfatherism in Rivers State and wanting to decide everything that happened in Rivers State and trying to destroy Rivers State. He queried Amechi on what he will benefit if he destroyed Rivers State. I now ask Wike the same question. Sir, what will you benefit if you destroy Rivers State? Well, if Amaechi couldn’t destroy Rivers State and couldn’t remove his successor Wike despite Amaechi’s alliance with the ruling APC and despite his being a Minister in Buhari’s regime while Wike was the governor of Rivers State, one can reasonably conclude that unless God Almighty wills it, Wike will not succeed in removing Fubara, despite his alliance with APC at the centre and despite his being a Minister in APC’s government.
Above all, the Supreme Court can now realise that unless their judgement accords to justice, it will never bring orderliness in the society. Rule of law demands that Judges give meaning to the ordinary wordings of the law and not use their discretion to dish out orders that will not promote the rule of law.