EFCC versus Rivers State

Something sinister is brew­ing in Rivers State. The mischief or whatever it is, is contained in the order which the Attorney General and Min­ister of Justice, Abubakar Mala­mi, has given the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Malami has directed the commission to investigate the finances of Rivers State over an alleged withdrawal of N11 billion by the State government.

Anybody who is familiar with political developments in the country will definitely smell rat in this directive. It is a witch hunt aimed at discred­iting the Rivers state govern­ment. If we recall the Ayo Fay­ose saga, we will readily know what Malami wants to achieve. We are all familiar with the sto­ry behind the freezing of the ac­count of Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State over spurious al­legations by EFCC. Fayose and the watching world have been shouting themselves hoarse over the issue. But the Muham­madu Buhari administration has remained hooked to the il­legality. Under Buhari, Nigeri­ans are witnessing the trial of a governor who is covered by im­munity as provided for in the constitution. The other time, the story was that Buhari has placed a travel ban on Fayose. That caused a stir. It caused an outrage. How could a president bar a governor from foreign trips? That was unimaginable. We are still dealing with that is­sue. But the story now is that the accounts of the governor have been frozen as if the gov­ernor is just like any other citi­zen. The president, as we know, has no constitutional powers to do what he has done. But that is impunity at work. That is a danger to our democracy. That is one evil that Nigerians are working hard to kick off. But the government of the day ap­pears intransigent.

From Ekiti state, the Ayo Fay­ose treatment is being trans­planted to Rivers state. The federal government of Buha­ri wants its agency, the EFCC, to probe Rivers state and its fi­nances. That is another illegali­ty at play. Fayose has since gone to court to challenge EFCC’s ac­tion. But as we await what the courts have to say, the Attor­ney General of Rivers State and Commissioner of Justice, Emmanuel Aguma, has called his counterpart at the federal level to order. He has remind­ed Malami that the federal gov­ernment or any of its agencies have no right under the law to investigate the financial trans­actions of a state government. That power is only vested in the state House of Assembly. Aguma has cited decided cases and the relevant constitutional provisions to support his argu­ment. It is our expectation that Malami will be properly guid­ed by the legal issues that Agu­ma has brought to his attention.

However, we have our fears. We are dealing with a govern­ment that is out for vendetta. A government that does not obey court judgement . A govern­ment that does not know about the rule of law. A government that does not respect other tiers of government. Indeed, a gov­ernment that does not know that there is something called separation of powers. That is the monster that we are deal­ing with.

Given the running battle be­tween Buhari’s All Progres­sives Congress (APC ) ad­ministration and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gov­ernment of Governor Nyesom Wike, we cannot but run into certain conclusions. Since the defeat of the APC by the PDP in the March 19 rerun elections in the state, APC is still gasping for breath. The leaders of the APC in both Rivers State and beyond have been ill at ease with the de­velopment. They want APC to control Rivers, one of the most strategic states in eastern Nige­ria. The APC appears desperate about it all. That was why for­mer governor, Chibuike Amae­chi practically went to war with Wike in the desperate bid to re­verse PDP’s victory in the elec­tions. Wike was too strong for the APC goons. His wings could not be clipped. And that has been making the APC very uncomfortable.

The other time, APC leaders in Rivers state with the active support of outsiders worked tirelessly to unseat Wike. The game plan was that of decla­ration of state of emergency. They wanted to achieve that by creating a state of siege in the state. They heated up the poli­ty. They played up the issues of violence. They stopped at noth­ing to make the Wike govern­ment the aggressor in the vi­olence that erupted over the rerun elections. They present­ed Wike as a rascal who has no business in government house. But that did not work.

Then they decided not to conclude the elections in con­stituencies where violence did not allow for elections. Their fear was that the conclusion of the elections would widen PDP’s lead in the state and pro­vide Wike with a firmer hold on the state. They used the In­dependent National Elector­al Commission (INEC) to ex­ecute this. That partly explains the long delay in conducting the remaining rerun elections in the country. But national outcry over the myriad of in­conclusive polls has forced the hands of the commission. It has decided to conclude the polls across the country, including Rivers State.

The prospect of the elections has since provided another av­enue for intrigues. Those who do not want Wike and PDP to continue to excell in Rivers State are up in arms again. Now they want to blackmail him and his government over financial recklessness. They want to cre­ate the impression that he is ac­cumulating money with which to prosecute the elections. In order to weaken the governor and his government, they have invited the EFCC to move in and distract them. This is where we are now.

But will Wike capitulate to this antic from Abuja? Those who know the man can beat their chest and vouch that he will not. He is a man whose courage overflows. Like Fayose, he is not likely going to be in­timidated. The only option left for his traducers is to try their hands on illegality. They want to hold on to impunity. This is the cankerworm that Nigerians are working hard to kick out.

But before the EFCC over­steps its bounds as it has done in Ekiti state, Nigerians need to remind the anti graft agency that its job is to investigate fi­nancial crimes in areas where it has jurisdiction and where con­cerned citizens have duly peti­tioned the commission. In the case of Rivers state, the com­mission has absolutely no lo­cus. Yet it wants to approbate and reprobate at the same time.

If we are not all pretenders and liars in this country, we should be embarrassed by what is oozing out from the govern­ment of Buhari. A govern­ment which came about on the wings of people’s power is ne­gating and subverting the very source of its power. It has taken the people for granted. It does not respect the will of the peo­ple. This is pure anathema. Ni­gerians should therefore stand up to be seen and heard in this matter. They should reject the invasion of Rivers and Eki­ti states and, indeed, any oth­er state of the federation. They should reject the witch hunt that has been masquerading as anti corruption war. As the say­ing goes, you can deceive some of the people some of the time. But you cannot deceive all the people all the time. The office of the Attorney General of the federation, the EFCC and their cohorts cannot lead the rest of us by the nose in the Rivers debacle. They should retrace their steps before they incur the wrath of the civilised world.

Oruwari, an oil magnate, lives in Port Harcourt.