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Rivers: Pro-Wike commissioners resign after redeployment by Fubara
Rivers State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor (SAN), and his colleague in the Ministry of Finance, Isaac Kamalu, rejected Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s redeployments on Wednesday.
Their resignations came less than 24 hours after Dr. Tammy Danagogo, Secretary to the State Government, announced their redeployment in a statement made on Tuesday.
Adangor was transferred to the Ministry of Special Duties (Governor’s Office), and Kamalu was assigned to the Ministry of Employment Generation and Economic Empowerment.
Adangor and Kamalu resigned from the State Executive Council for the second time in less than five months after being redeployed.
On December 14 and 15, 2023, nine commissioners loyal to the previous governor of the state and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, resigned from the state cabinet but were all reinstated after an intervention by President Bola Tinubu in response to a peace deal in Abuja.
On Wednesday, Adangor and Kamalu submitted their resignation papers again, offering to leave the state executive council due to irreconcilable differences with the governor.
While Adangor accused Fubara of willfully interfering with his duties as a commissioner, Kamalu questioned the governor’s assertions of an increase in internally generated revenue of N27 billion each month.
Our correspondent received a copy of Adangor’s resignation letter, which he signed on April 24 and submitted to the Secretary to the State Government, Danagogo.
The letter was captioned ‘Cabinet Reshufflement: Notice of Rejection of Deployment and Resignation from the Rivers State Executive Council.’
In the letter, Adangor accused the governor of ordering him not to defend, oppose, or appear in litigation filed against his office and the Rivers State Government by people who admittedly worked for and were sponsored by the Rivers State Government.
The six-paragraph letter states, “My attention has been drawn to your letter dated April 23, 2024, and widely circulated on social media, whereby I was ‘deployed to the Ministry of Special Duties.
“Further to the referenced letter, I hereby give you notice of my rejection of the said deployment and resignation from the Rivers State Executive Council with effect from the 24th day of April 2024.
“I wish to state for the record that I am no longer willing to continue to serve in the administration of His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, in any capacity whatsoever.
“It is important to mention that the Governor of Rivers State had, in the past couple of weeks, willfully interfered with the performance of my duties as the Honourable Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Rivers State, by directing me not to defend, oppose, or appear in suits instituted against the Honourable Attorney-General and the Government of Rivers State by persons admittedly hired and sponsored by the Government of Rivers State.
“Having served the government and the good people of Rivers State dutifully as a member of the Rivers State Executive Council for the past five years, it has become imperative for me to quit the administration to preserve my reputation.”
In his resignation letter dated April 24, 2024, Kamalu criticized Fubara’s assertions of an increase in internally generated revenue of N27 billion per month.
He also stated that excellent governance is impossible to give in an atmosphere of acrimony and strife, as well as doubt and hatred.
In the letter, titled ‘Re: Notice of Resignation as Commissioner and Member of the Rivers State Executive Council’, Kamalu stated that he had given his all to the state during the previous administration, where he served as Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning and later Finance helmsman, a position he also held under Fubara.
The lengthy statement partly read, “In the course of official engagements, I have reiterated the need for this peace and the fact that we are all willing and determined to work for it.
“It is very difficult to deliver good governance where there is acrimony and discord. It is not the point of service that is important, but the climate.
“Our present circumstances make service delivery extremely challenging. I still hold the belief that it is never too late for peace.
“Given the above, I find it difficult to accept the redeployment. I do not accept it. I reject it and convey to you my immediate resignation as commissioner and member of the Rivers State Executive Council with effect from the date of this letter.”
He added, “The mandates of the respective ministries were to the best of our abilities (as ministries) duly carried out, and at all times material, relevant reforms were embarked upon for improved performance and effective and sustainable service delivery.
“Among several others, we successfully carried out the following: initiating and supporting existing policy frameworks for enhanced internal revenue generation. This (necessary adjustments made to some of the programs) led to an increase in internal revenue receipts. This steady rise has presently generated, though not the figures erroneously claimed in the media.”
Meanwhile, legal battles over President Tinubu’s intervention to restore calm in the state’s political space continued on Wednesday, with the Appeal Court reserving judgment in a suit attempting to declare the intervention unconstitutional.
A state high court presided over by Justice Chinwendu Nworgu dismissed the complaint filed by an older statesman and member of the Rivers State Elders Council, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, and nine others, seeking to declare the Abuja peace deal unlawful.
They appealed the verdict together with President Tinubu, Fubara, Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, the state House of Assembly, and the Peoples Democratic Party.
On Wednesday, the Appeal Court’s three-man panel, chaired by Justice Elfreda Oluwayamisi-Dawodu, reserved judgment for a date to be announced to parties following the adoption of final written addresses.
When the case came up for adoption on Wednesday, counsel for the claimants, Wilcox Agberetor, SAN, argued that the appeal should be allowed and that the matter be returned to the Chief Judge of Rivers State to be reassigned to another judge, while counsel for the House of Assembly, K.C. Njemanze, SAN, urged that the appeal be dismissed.
The lawyers representing President Tinubu and Governor Fubara did not file a brief argument in the action, and no lawyer represented the PDP during the proceedings.
The claimants had petitioned the court to seek an interpretation of the Nigerian Constitution, namely whether the president had the legal power to compel the governor to re-present the 2024 budget to 24 MPs led by Amaewhule, even after their seats had been declared vacant.
Speaking to reporters on the court grounds, Chief Sara-Igbe, who led those who filed the complaint, stated that all they sought was an interpretation of the law on the eight-point presidential resolution and the legality of 24 MPs led by Amaewhule, despite defecting to another political party.
He stated, “We went to court before they started most of the activities. So far as the law is concerned, if we succeed in this case, every law they (the assembly) made becomes null and void.
“We strongly believe that, under Section 109, they are no longer members of the House of Assembly. What we are saying is that the entire eight points agreed upon between Mr. President and the Governor are unconstitutional.
“We are also saying that the members of the House of Assembly who, by defecting from the party that sponsored them to another party, are no longer members of the House.”
