Sole Administrator can’t restore peace in Rivers – Veteran trade unionist Baba Aye

•Comrade Baba Aye

A veteran trade unionist and activist, Comrade Baba Aye, is Co-Convener, Coalition for Revolution (CORE) and a Council Member, Progressive International (PI). Baba Aye, former Deputy National Secretary, Labour Party (LP) and former National Convener, United Action for Democracy (UAD) during the June 12 struggle and Member, National Implementation Committee of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), in this interview, speaks on the state of emergency in Rivers State among other crucial national issues, reports Sunday Independent.

Excerpts:

How would you react to the recent declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu?

President Bola Tinubu’s decla­ration of a state of emergency in Rivers state is ill-motivated and un­dermines the democratisation pro­cess in Nigeria for what it is worth. In one fell swoop, it has set back the democratic project, questionable as it definitely is, by decades.

A state of emergency is essentially just another name for martial rule. And to underscore that, he further removed the elected public officials in executive and legislative posi­tions, replacing them with retired military personnel as sole admin­istrator. The Sole Administrator has taken a step forward by likewise removing all political appointees.

For those of us that fought against military dic­tatorship in the 1980s and 1990s at great risk to our lives, suffering in­carceration and marks of physical assault which we still bear today, all these amounts to pooh-poohing on the sacrifices Nigerians made to reestablish a republic. And to the Nigerian masses, particularly those in Rivers, it is an ill wind that is politically poisonous and histor­ically condemnable.

Would you agree with the public notion that President Tinubu’s action was partial and in favour of Nyesom Wike who many see as behind the Rivers crisis, while it tilts heavily against Governor Simi Fubara?

There is no doubt about it. This is the script of Tinubu for Wike, and of Wike for Tinubu. It is not by chance that it is so, or that Tinubu has stood solidly behind Wike throughout this whole dra­ma between godfather and godson that lasted almost two years before this state of emergency last card.

As Nigerians would say in pidgin ‘e get why’. And at the bottom of that ‘why’ is power. Tinubu owed the Rivers State results of the 2023 presidential elections to Wike. We are all living witnesses to the muti­lated versions of result sheets that were circulated online, pointing clearly to electoral malfeasance.

But, as a Yorùbá proverb goes, ‘When a hunter kills an animal and pours libation, it is not so much thanking his gods for the one that has been killed as in warm­ing their hearts to enable him kill another’. Tinubu obviously wants Wike empowered to be able to ma­nipulate the 2027 elections in his favour. Don’t forget that Rivers is one of the states with the largest number of voters. The other state with a very large number of voters in the South South, a region that has traditionally voted for the PDP, is Delta State. And that is being tak­en care of, so to speak, with the ap­pointment of Etekamba Umoren, a close ally of Godswill Akpabio and an APC loyalist as INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC).

By the way, the value of Wike for Tinu­bu goes well beyond Rivers State. There are several PDP governors that owe Wike. So, there are several places where he can help Tinubu to grab votes and run away with them since it is not served a la carte, or otherwise, spoil things for those that will be contesting against Tinubu, even where he cannot out­rightly produce the results magic. To do all these, Wike needs to be favoured as Tinubu is doing.

Many believe that President Tinubu did not exhaust his intervention powers in the Rivers crisis before the emergency declaration. Do you think so too?

The president clearly did not exhaust all possible ways of arriv­ing at a peaceful resolution. He is not interested simply in peace for peace sake. He is interested solely, or at least primarily in only what will reinforce his hold on power. That includes pandering to Wike’s whims and political needs. You can see how things went from the very beginning. Even when the presi­dent called the contending parties over to Abuja and got them to ar­rive at an agreement, it was more or less in black and white, asking Fubara to bend down and kiss Wike’s ring.

Would emergency rule restore peace between the warring factions within six months?

It is impossible to restore peace without enabling justice. Before speaking more on this though, it is important to stress the fact that our condemnation of the macabre dance of President Tinubu and Mr Wike is not to say that we are rub­bing Siminalayi Fubura’s head as governor. They are different fac­tions of the same shameless rul­ing class that is ruining Nigeria. In Rivers State, he, no less than Wike and his goons, have always been much more concerned about personal interests than making life better for the immense major­ity of Riverians. That being said, the issues here also speak to both process and content.

Lasting peace can be achieved only with an in­sistence on all sides living up to the letters and spirit of their law. Neither a military Sole Adminis­trator nor any civilian faction of the ruling class can restore peace in Rivers State.

There is the need to involve the mass of the people and their organisation to chart a way forward. The trade unions, civil society movement, nation­ality movements, women and youth platforms, all these and lots more should be brought together to talk and fashion out ways and manners of how Rivers State can be run by them in their interest, as against the interests of either some pompous godfather and his master puppeteer on one hand, or a self-serving hitherto nondescript individual, who became governor on the basis of a Faustian pact, on the other hand.

How do you see the recent defection of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, from the ruling APC to the SDP?

I cannot, but laugh in Portu­guese over this El-Rufai matter. That guy is a clown. But, clowns are not always fun to behold, if you remember Stephen King’s Pennywise, for example. El-Rufai is a quintessential characterisa­tion of the Nigerian ruling class. There is nobody that has described him, and thus the nature of the rul­ing class in Nigeria, better than Olusegun Obasanjo, who said he is a pathological liar without in­tegrity. Anyway, that is not to say Obasanjo is any better himself. Don’t forget that even the devil knows the scriptures very well and even quoted from it when he was tempting Jesus after his 40-day fast on the mountain.

So, the defection is acting true to type for El-Rufai, who has danced through quite a few parties in his time, since start­ing from PDP where he stabbed his mentors in the back. It is also true to type for the typical Nigerian capitalist politician, most of whom cross carpet time and again. Thus, I will say that even though this spe­cific situation is just arising, we can still, like Fela, say, ‘na old, old, old news be that o’.

Do you see El-Rufai’s political clout strong enough to attract followers to SDP in a way that can torpedo the APC in 2027 elections?

Clout ke? El-Rufai has never been much of a base builder him­self. His talent is devious, schem­ing. He has been able to use that to place himself in positions where others that could build a base for him, or put in a word or two for him, have been able to either help him win elections, as was the case in Kaduna where he was elected as governor and the only election I know him to have ever run for, or to secure his appointment, such as those into the BPE and as FCT Minister under Obasanjo. He no get mouth there, as boys go talk am for street. He is an emptiness of a barrel of a somebody, if you ask me.

Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister, a few days ago cancelled the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of Wadata House, the PDP National Secretariat in Abuja. How do you see the development?

Wike again! That man is not only vindictive to a point, he is equally shameless and acts more like a tout than a lawyer. But, he is smart though, you must give him that; and ruthless too. From what I gathered watching one of his aides speaking on a television show, they appear to have found a loophole to argue that Wadata House is not owned by PDP in the eyes of the law.

But, that is just all smoke and mirrors. I know that there are some radicals that have expressed the view that such things like this should not concern us. They argue that it is just dif­ferent factions of the ruling class fighting themselves. They do have a point. We must always highlight this first and foremost, as I did when I put my position on Fubu­ra in perspective.

But, that having been said, we must still point out the nonsense and ingredients em­bedded in any and every form of oppression exercised by people in power, to the people for what it is. We must be the people’s tribune against any and every injustice. The cancellation of that C of O is unjust. It is another blow aimed at weakening the already hassled PDP ahead of the 2027 elections. We have no faith in PDP any more than APC, or all of the capitalist politicians’ parties. Nonetheless, we must stand up against injustice, which is what this cancellation is all about, despite the resort to some obscure law.

With politicians restrategising for the 2027 elections, do you see the feasi­bility of Abubakar Atiku and Peter Obi uniting once more under the PDP, or both PDP and Labour Party forming an alliance to wrestle power from APC?

Nothing is impossible in poli­tics, especially in the magical re­alism of Naija politics. However, there are some serious obstacles to the possibility of these two charac­ters that once ran as a ticket, ever getting to do so again. Atiku’s de­sire to become president of Nige­ria, either here on earth or down there in hell, has become an obses­sion.

For Obi, it will be almost im­possible for him to shift gears back to reverse to be a vice-presidential candidate again, as he was in 2019. Doing so could cost him his base of ‘Obidiocy’. This, and not the form of alliance or party under which such a ticket will run is the Gord­ian knot here.

You have watched the style of gov­ernance and performance of Monday Okpebholo, the incumbent Edo State governor, so far. Do you see him on the right track? Do you think he can take Edo to the next level?

Okpebholo! That one just dey catch cruise o. Wetin concern am? I pity the people of Edo State. But it is not him I blame. It is Adams Os­hiomhole who foisted such a funny incompetent on them. And to any­one who thinks he is on the right, left, or any track to take Edo to any­where, except into deeper mire, I can only say, ‘second bass o jàre’.