Senior lawyer, Robert Clarke (SAN) has bared his mind on the crisis going on in Rivers State between, Governor Simi Fubara and Nyesom Wike.
He said: “The constitutional role of the President in all this fracas – there should have been none. Because we were not expecting it, none has been provided for.”
“The only time, the only constitution that allows the Federal government to put its mouth in a local thing is during the first republic when a declaration of emergency was declared in the west.”
“The president has no power, he knows that. The best legal brain cannot help him. You can’t bring Robert Clarke to come and change the law to enable the president to come and intervene. Under what constitutional provisions? So, the law by itself as of today did not provide (a constitutional right for Tinubu to intervene in State matters).”
“The situation of godfatherism has arisen because of what we have on ground, because we don’t have independent candidates. If an independent candidate had won the Local Government election in Nigeria, will the governor call him? Which party will discipline him if he does not answer?”
“The question of independent candidates if attached and fought well for will not give rise to godfatherism. So, let us try and start from that which is necessary for us to survive our matters.”
“Once you do those three areas in Nigeria today, I can assure you, you won’t hear about any court cases. Number one, Local government. Number two, election- who can belong to a party, and why should a party be a dominant factor in elections in Nigeria? Once we can sift these three things, this country will move forward.”
“A governor cannot wake up in the morning and call his utility man, go and break that door. The man will ask him, where is the authority of the Local government? We don’t have such.”
“The problem is that we Nigerians, we have allowed the politicians to subdue us with money, and that money is what is killing all of us. That money is killing all the elders. All the elders in Rivers State today, those who are supporting this, it’s all money, don’t listen to them.”
“The violation of rights in Rivers State can be rectified by the people of Rivers State themselves. Let the big men in Rivers State, let them come out, call a rally, tell the people that we cannot continue to live when the properties of the state is being broken down by politicians.”