Last week, elders of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), visited Aso Villa, to seek President Tinubu’s intervention in the political crises going in Rivers State. Perhaps, PANDEF meant well in their quest to rescue the state from further brigandage masterminded by a handful of political merchants, but their visit seemed to happen a little late, after one factionin the skirmish had procured tremendous upper hand, now set for a kill.

Maybe PANDEF had missed out on the undercurrents, especially after the demise of Chief E.K. Clark, who didn’t mince words to call the madness what it is and call out the gladiators. When the elder statesman passed to the great beyond, many feared Governor Siminalayi Fubara had lost a great ally.

Chief Clark would have called a press conference to query the escalation instigated by the Supreme Court judgment of February 28, 2025. It was therefore not clear what PANDEF hoped to achieve after the Supreme Court had found Fubara guilty of all charges. But their visit did provide an opportunity for the President to pontificate on his concept of the rule of law.

Critical observers of the events in Rivers State know that asking the president to intervene after the Supreme Court judgment was a waste of PANDEF’s time. Has PANDEF forgotten that Tinubu is a beneficiary of the crisis? Don’t they remember how it all started, when former governor Nyesom Wike parted ways with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and worked tirelessly for Tinubu in the elections of 2023. Nothing has changed to upend that partnership, except that Governor Fubara is the cog in their wheel as they accelerate towards 2027.

Didn’t PANDEF see substantial correlation between the Supreme Court judgment and the Aso Rock agreement the two camps signed in December 2023, which the president even referenced in his address?

President Tinubu did not pretend when he implied that if Fubara had surrendered to that one-sided agreement, he would have reduced his days of adversity. While the president canvasses adherence to rule of law, Wike, the FCT Minister, is threatening fire and brimstone, just as his 27 lawmakers are on the voyage to render the governor impotent.That was the original template: to install a puppet in the Government House.

After the lawmakers openly defected from the PDP and Fubara responded harshly by pulling down the structure housing the House of Assembly, to render them homeless, hell was let loose, prompting calls from some quarters for the president to intervene. Informed quarters knew the calls were needless because both Tinubu and Wike were collaborators. There is no way Fubara would get a fair hearing under an arbitration supervised by Tinubu. However, an agreement was signed.

Here are the highlights of the agreement: That all matters instituted in the courts by the Governor of Rivers State, Sir Fubara, and his team, in respect of the political crisis in Rivers State, shall be withdrawn immediately; all impeachment proceedings initiated against the Governor by the Rivers State House of Assembly should be dropped immediately; the leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly as led by Hon. Martin Amaewhule shall be recognised alongside the 27 members who resigned from the PDP; the remuneration and benefits of all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and their staff must be reinstated immediately and the Governor of Rivers State shall henceforth not interfere with the full funding of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Also included are that, the Rivers State House of Assembly shall choose where they want to sit and conduct their legislative business without interference and/or hindrance from the executive arm of government; the Governor of Rivers State, Sir Fubara, shall re-present the state budget to a properly constituted Rivers State House of Assembly; the names of all commissioners in the Rivers State Executive who resigned their appointments because of the political crisis in the state shouldbe resubmitted to the House of Assembly for approval; and there should not be a caretaker committee for the local governments in Rivers State. The dissolution of the Local Government administration is null and void and shall not be recognised.

Mr. President approved the content of that agreement. A democrat who claims to be a champion of the rule of law would have allowed court matters to proceed without inducements. What’s the rule of law? Rule of law manifests where everyone is subject to and accountable to the law, which is publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated. The bone of contention in the entire matter is that 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly had publicly and at different platforms announced their resignation from the PDP, the party that gave them tickets to contest the 2023 state Assembly election conducted by INEC. The 1999 Constitution frowns on acts of defection without justification.

Upon realising that they acted without reason and had lost their seats, the lawmakers went to the court to compel INEC not to declare their seats vacant. Since that time, they have gone from court to court until the Supreme Court in its recent judgment endorsed what looked like the agreement the parties singed under the supervision of Mr. President.

Whereas the agreement didn’t carry much force of law and was largely unenforced, the judgment of the apex court is supreme. This is the energy that now propels Wike and his loyalists to demand their pound of flesh within 48 hours. They think they have Fubaraby the jugular.

Is that Mr. President’s concept of rule of law, to neutralise an elected governor just because he is not wired to play roforofo politics? Is it rule of law in Lagoswhen lawmakers have no mind of their own. After the House sent Speaker Mudashiru Obasa packing, somebody brought him back and foisted him on the Lagos Assembly, and by extension on the people of Lagos. Can’t politics be fair? Is it the rule of law to empower Wike to destabilise PDP and make Rivers ungovernable all because he is unable to manipulate Fubara?

Is it the rule of law for one man to appropriate the entire political structure of a state and it is only on that basis lasting peace could be decreed for over five million people?

When Fubara returned home from the Abuja agreement of 2023, he realised he had been ambushed. If the 27 lawmakers who had resigned from the PDP were to be recognised by the governor as agreed in clause three of the Abuja agreement, it meant Fubara could still be impeached any time he refused to play ball. The ball, as designed by Wike, was to ensure that he runs the state by proxy despite his pretensions.

He nominated the entire cabinet for Fubara, except for the commissioner for information. Last week, Fubara went to re-present the 2025 Budget in fulfillment of the court judgment, but was locked out by the lawmakers. In the weeks ahead, the cat and mouse game could get really bad for the people of Rivers, now that allocations to the state have been put under lock. Wike says heaven will not fall if Fubara is impeached, and that is to pave way for him to install a stooge.

How does PANDEF expect Tinubu to backtrack when the plot had already taken shape? Did PANDEF expect the president to go against the Supreme Court judgment?

After listening to the South-south elders, the president told them to go home to counsel Governor Fubara to adhere to the rule of law, to ensure lasting peace. He said respect for the judiciary is crucial in upholding democracy and social harmony. He advised the leaders to be more broadminded, selfless and be focused on the larger vision to salvage the region politically and economically, by insisting that the judiciary’s interpretation of the Constitution is respected.

Hear the President: “Niger Delta is the goose that lays the golden egg. We must care for the goose; otherwise, we lose the golden egg. I got your signal and your concern, particularly on Rivers State. I have been on the issue for quite some time. I foresaw the crisis festering for too long before I intervened. We reached an agreement, written agreement, and both parties signed.”

On the rule of law, the president said: “This is a nation governed by the rule of law. I should not be here as president without a rule of law. I have total confidence in our judiciary. We have expectations. Human beings can make errors. But once the court has spoken, that is it. Please go back home and help implement the court rulings within the shortest possible time. I am putting the ball in your court. Help! Privately and openly intervene and counsel the governor. Pursue the path of peace and stability.”

There was not one word of admonition by the President for Wike and his boys. It’s all the fault of Fubara. It is not likely that Fubara is alone in this struggle to free the state from one-man rule. It is up to the people to decide what’s best for them. The same way Lagos people have to decide whether it is the best for them to remain under one-man rule.

To achieve a lasting peace, according to the president, Fubara must remain a puppet, a governor with no troops. Whereas governors are crowned leaders of parties in their states, Fubara has no party to lead. The council election he hurried to put together after the Supreme Court imposed a deadline for states to conduct elections, the same Supreme Court has now nullified.

The president admitted that humans make errors, referring to judicial pronouncements. And that when errors happen and expectations are cut short, there is no remedy but to obey.

Let it be known that grievous judicial errors cannot co-exist with the rule of law. Judicial errors corrode the rule of law and cause the people to lose faith in the judiciary and democracy.