More trouble brews in Rivers as Ijaw congress considers self-determination option – Newstrends
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More trouble brews in Rivers as Ijaw congress considers self-determination option

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More trouble brews in Rivers as Ijaw congress considers self-determination option

Tuesday’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu has rekindled the quest for self-determination by the Ijaw ethnic nationality in the Niger Delta.

Prof Benjamin Okaba, president of Ijaw National Congress, INC, the Ijaw apex socio-cultural group, told Vanguard: “For Ijaw people, we are not too happy because we see this as another slap on us. But again, our position will be deliberated upon in a wider stakeholders’ meeting that will be convened later.

“In that meeting, I am sure the Ijaw people will look at how we have fared in this Nigerian project and what options are left to drive home our quest for self-determination.

“We say it is hasty because the President has so much opportunity to leverage on the calls made by Nigerians from all quarters to call his minister, Nyesom Wike, to order.

“Secondly, while Wike himself has been the antagonist, he had boldly stated that he would make governance impossible for the governor, Siminalayi Fubara, in as much as he does not dance to his tune.

“In a recent statement credited to him, he (Wike) said the two conditions he must meet are: ‘Allow him to control all the LGAs in Rivers State, and that he (Fubara) should sign an agreement that he would not contest in 2027.’

“So, the man, Wike, is desperate to capture state power and resources, as we had said earlier, and persistently. He wants to turn Rivers State into his property, and the people of Rivers State are the ones to suffer.

“The governor, who entered into a covenant with the people of Rivers to deliver on sustainable development, cannot mortgage that mandate because he wants to satisfy somebody.

“These are obvious facts flying all over the place, and I thought the President should have looked at all of these. I said it is lopsided—why will you leave Wike and sack Sim? The best thing is to remove everybody who played a role in this.

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“Wike has to be sacked, and all the federal appointees from the state also have to be sacked because if you do not sack them, they will use their positions to perpetrate more crises and create more advantageous roles for themselves.

“The cry that they want to take over Rivers State is gradually playing out and is not better for democracy.
“The other issue in this state of emergency is that we have seen right from the beginning that the declaration was one of the options Wike was looking at. He felt if the judiciary cannot remove him quickly; if the House of Assembly could not take him off; then the next option is to create a chaotic situation so that an emergency can be imposed on the state.”

Tinubu prejudiced—Miakpor, retired Delta judge

Reacting, a retired president of Delta State Customary Court, Miakpor Emiaso, said: “I suppose it is an inevitable, yet, unfortunate imperative that we have found ourselves in Rivers State.

“Apart from a few underlying misgivings that I have, it was inevitable. I mean that something had to give way. The way the gladiators in Rivers State were going, we could not continue like that, ridiculing the entire government apparatus and even embarrassing the judiciary as a fallout.

“My misgivings are one; the president’s language declaring the state of emergency has some subtle political bias. If you noticed, the president never mentioned the name of the speaker in the broadcast, nor did he refer to the well-known external influence on the House of Assembly, which is the origin of this crisis.

“As it is now, the state of emergency seems to have given thumbs up for vaunting godfatherism because you could say that now that the president has gone this way, he has not mentioned the external influence, especially Wike, who is the origin of all these. This shows that he has a bias that he needs to cure.

“If the President wants to be viewed as fair, he should move Wike from where he is now; otherwise, Wike will not keep quiet. He will try to reach the administrator to influence him in one way or another.

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“Again, I say that the six-month state of emergency is excessive. It is too long, especially when you drafted a retired military officer to run the state as an administrator.”

Ekiyor, ex-IYC president reacts

Similarly, former president of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Dr. Chris Ekyor, asserted: “The state of emergency came to me as a rude shock. It gives the impression that the president is answerable to his minister.

“Wike strategically orchestrated all the crises in Rivers State while the president watched. What are the contending issues of the Rivers State’s politics? The defection of 27 lawmakers, and what does the Electoral Act say about such a defection

“I’m concerned about how the judges ruled that the 27 members are legitimate members of the House after defecting and breaching the law. The real problem in Nigeria is the court delivering fair justice.

“If it had been done correctly, the current crisis in Rivers State would have been long resolved. Wike left the issues and threatened the entire Ijaw people over a mere disagreement with his candidate,who became governor of Rivers State. How does that concern the rest of the Ijaw people?

“He insulted Ijaw in Abuja at a media parley. Then he came to the heart of Ijaw land, shot at our women and children with tear gas, and further insulted us by asking, ‘How many dem dey?’
“We did not respond with violence to allow peace to reign, knowing that his goal was to cause the president to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State.

“President Tinubu rebelled against the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, between 2003 and 2007, as the governor of Lagos State. No state of emergency was declared on him. Under President Yar’Adua, Atlas Cove was blown in 2009; no state of emergency in Lagos?

“How did the president conclude that Fubara is behind the explosions in Rivers State? Why does he not think it is those fighting him? Is there no Joint Task Force, JTF, securing the pipelines anymore? Why is the government spending heavily on pipeline security? Is there any breakdown of law and order in the state to warrant what the president did?’’

 

More trouble brews in Rivers as Ijaw congress considers self-determination option

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My husband likes sex too much, divorce seeking wife tells court

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My husband likes sex too much, divorce seeking wife tells court

Linda Stephen, a 37-year-old housewife, filed for divorce from her husband, Felix Stephen, on Tuesday at Kaduna Customary Court, citing his unreasonable sexual demands.

The petitioner, a resident of Ungwan Sunday in Kaduna, also accused her husband of hitting her after she resisted his sexual advances.

In her petition, she stated that she and her estranged spouse were married for six years.

While pleading with the court to grant her divorce from her husband, Mrs Stephen stated that she was no longer interested in the marriage because she could no longer deal with his sexual demands.

“I urge the court to dissolve this marriage because I can’t stand his excessive sexual urge. He likes sex too much, and I can’t bear it.

“Most times, he would have sex with me from midnight till early hours of the morning. Even when I am crying, he will not stop.

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“It has been three months since I moved out of his house; his relatives have been pleading with me to go back to him, but they do not know what I am facing,” she said.

She further added that her husband cannot control himself when he craves sex and that if she refuses his sexual advances, he will beat her up in front of their two children.

Stephen, the respondent, stated in his defence that he was willing to suppress his sexual urges.

He informed the court he loved his wife and begged the court to help him appease her rather than satisfy her demand.

“I took my uncles and friends to her parents’ house to plead with her. But she refused to listen to us, so she walked out on us,” he said.

He also asked the court to grant him time to figure things out and reconnect with his wife.

After hearing the couple’s statements, Court President John Dauda deferred the case until May 6, 2025, for feedback and the conclusion of the reconciliation while advising them to maintain peace.

My husband likes sex too much, divorce seeking wife tells court

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Security operatives stop another pipeline bombing in Rivers

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Security operatives stop another pipeline bombing in Rivers 

Operatives of the security agencies including the police, Army, Navy and Air Force have foiled an attempt to blow up another pipeline in the Ikwerre and Emohua local government areas of Rivers State.

The police in revealing this bombing attempt on Tuesday however vowed to protect all critical infrastructure of government and ensure total security of lives and property in the state during the emergency rule.
Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Olugbenga Adepoju, at a press briefing on Tuesday said their joint operations had led to stoping the criminals.

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He disclosed that the security team foiled attempts by criminals to take advantage of developments in the state to vandalise critical assets of government.
He added that one suspect died while attempting to detonate an explosive on the pipeline.
He said, “Over the past week, the joint efforts of the security agencies in Rivers State have, among other successes, thwarted attempts by miscreants to vandalise pipelines which led to the death of the vandal in the process of trying to detonate a pipeline at Aluu- Rumuekpe in Ikwerre LGA but for the quick intervention of security agents.”
The CP urged members of the public to provide the Police and other security agencies with credible intelligence regarding individuals or groups and their conspirators engaging in vandalism.

 

Security operatives stop another pipeline bombing in Rivers

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Constitution amendment: Reps move to stop gov’ship election cases at A/Court

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House of Representatives

Constitution amendment: Reps move to stop gov’ship election cases at A/Court

The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed for second reading, a bill seeking to amend the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to make the Court of Appeal the final arbiter in disputes involving governorship, National and State House of assembly elections.

The bill is among the 39 constitution amendment bills that were passed through second reading on the floor of the House.

The passage of the bills comes as the House prepares to go on Sallah and Easter breaks and on the heels of the controversy that trails the adoption of the declaration of state of emergency declared by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Rivers State last week.

The bills were passed after they were presented for second reading through a motion by the House Leader, Rep. Julius Ihonvbre and referred to the House Committee on Constitution Review, chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, for further legislative actions.

The proposed legislation was sponsored by the lawmaker representing Ndokwa East/Ndokwa West/Ukwani Federal Constituency of Delta State, Nnamdi Ezechi.

Daily Trust reports that before now, electoral disputes involving governorship election are decided by the Supreme Court as the final arbiter, while that of the National and State Assemblies end at the Court of Appeal.

However, the proposed amendment seeks to abridge the timeline involved in deciding governorship election disputes by making the Appeal Court the final arbiter.

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Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, Ezechi said the proposed legislation seeks to alter the provision of sub-section (3) of Section 246 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

He said the bill seeks to delete the existing subsection (3) and substitute a new subsection (3) to read, “The decisions of the Court of Appeal in respect of appeals arising from the Governorship, National and State Houses of Assembly election petitions shall be final.”

He said, “Mr Speaker, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Second Alteration) Act of 2010 altered Section 246 subsection (1) by providing in paragraphs (b) and (c) that appeals to the Court of Appeal shall be as of right from the decisions of the National and State Houses of Assembly and decisions of the Governorship Election Tribunals as to whether a person has been validly elected as a lawmaker or a governor or whether his tenure has ceased or his seat has become vacant.

“The second alteration specifically provided in Section 246 subsection (3) that the decisions of the Court of Appeal arising from the National and State Houses of Assembly election petitions shall be final.

“However, the amendment did not say anything about the Governorship Election Petition, thereby allowing all governorship election petitions to proceed to the apex court (Supreme Court). This bill is trying to amend the present provision of Section 246 subsection (3) by making the Court of Appeal the final appeal court for all election petitions.”

Justification for amendment

According to the PDP lawmaker, “This would enable the final winner of a governorship election to be known without delay. If the person declared as winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission wins in the Court of Appeal, it would allow him to settle down and face the business of governance without distraction.”

He also noted that terminating election disputes at the appellate court would save costs, saying, “If such petitions end in the Court of Appeal, it would reduce the financial resources being wasted by the parties in prosecuting such cases to the Supreme Court.”

He continued, “We should note that the original provision of Section 246 (1)(b) stated that an appeal shall lie as of right from the decisions of the National Assembly Election Tribunals and Governorship and Legislative Houses Tribunals on the issues mentioned above.

“Subsection (3) of the said section clearly stated that the decisions of the Court of Appeal in respect of appeals arising from election petitions shall be final.”

Constitution amendment: Reps move to stop gov’ship election cases at A/Court

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