Pan Yoruba sociocultural group, Afenifere, has sued for peace among various political factions in Rivers State, submitting that the recent happening in the state is capable of truncating the nation’s democracy.
This is as it denounced the growing abuse of power by the federal government and its notable agencies.
Afenifere made its position on the crisis in Rivers State known in a statement jointly signed by HRH Oba Oladipo Olaitan and Prince Justice Faleye, Deputy Leader and National Publicity Secretary, respectively.
The group described the role played by the critical agencies of the government, including the security, as a calculated attempt to destroy democracy in the country.
It read, “The role of the judiciary to muddy the election process and the refusal of the Police to do the obligatory duty of protecting the peace of the state is strongly condemned. The two institutions are complicit in the breakdown of that state.
“Afenifere has been warning of the dangers of the Tinubu administration’s move towards overcentralised unitarian governance with his attempt to take over local government finance and electoral administration, whose motivation has played out in River State with the botched attempt to seize control of Rivers State.
“Unable to use other means to frustrate and usurp the Rivers State Governor, the federal government has been used by the Governor’s previous godfather, Mr Nyesom Wike, to go for the jugular by attempting to take over the control of the local governments.
“The inherent abuse and inefficiency of our overcentralised structure was deployed in favour of Nyesom Wike, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, to pursue his personal political ambitions to undemocratically control the state after falling out with his political protege.
“Following the further bastardisation of the judiciary to sabotage the Rivers State local government elections with a kangaroo court judgement to withhold Rivers State voter registration, the federally controlled police was withdrawn from its statutory obligations to safeguard true and fair elections in Rivers State.
“With a spirit of defiance to uphold the principles of federalism, the River State government went ahead to hold elections in its administrative units, aka local governments.
“As absolute power corrupts absolutely, Nyesom Wike went ahead to carry out his earlier threats to burn down any state that doesn’t conform to his personal dictates backed by federal might, as his emboldened loyalists set fire on local government offices across River State without fear of laws only enforceable by the federal police.
“Afenifere hereby implores the Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun to understand that the Nigerian Police is an instrument to not only serve the Nigerian federal government but the Nigerian federation as a whole, and he should not lend himself to abuse of the federation by the federal government.
“The unfolding River State debacle confirms Afenifere’s warning that the planned takeover of local government finances and elections by the federal government is essentially a gimmick for state capture, disguised as helping states to manage their administrative units. Local governments are the pillars of states, which if taken over will render state governors irrelevant.
“This is like the United Nations adjudging the Federal Government of Nigeria to be hopelessly corrupt and entrenching Nigerians into poverty, therefore handing over the Nigerian States to our former colonial masters or another foreign body with the promise of better management, which will make the federal government an empty irrelevant vessel with no territory, leaving the people at the mercy of a foreign colonist.
“It is an understatement that Afenifere is dismayed by the long history of state governors maladministration of their local governments, the administrative units of state governments. However, the proper management or mismanagement of a state through its administrative units is essentially the sole responsibility of the state government.
“As bad as state governments might be in the administration of their states, the federalisation of their administrative units, local governments, strikes at the heart of our federalism and democratic separation and balance of power bargained for prior to our independence as a nation.
“The citizenry stand a better chance with 36 states and their mismanaged administrative units than negating states for a single federal power source, since absolute power corrupts absolutely. What one federally empowered Wike-Tinubu can do to arrest our collective freedoms can’t be achieved by 36 state dictators.
“The attempt by Wike to capture River State through local governments, backed by the Tinubu administration, is indicative of how President Tinubu plans to take over the 774 local governments by using INEC to impose local government chairmen in order to create a one-party state, as he has done in Lagos State for the last 25 years.
“While some state governments in control of their local governments have a chance to resist the imposition of one party across the nation by the ruling party, local government chairmen would be mere pawns selected and deselected by an almighty federal government led by a dictator geared towards national capture.
“Afenifere hereby calls on all patriotic citizens, especially state assemblies, to reject the Local Autonomy Independent Electoral Commission Establishment Bill 2024 currently being pushed through the National Assembly; otherwise, states without their local governments are empty vessels, and Nigerian citizens would be effectively silenced and conquered by a one-party dictatorship. Ultimately,
“Afenifere reiterates its stance that only a decentralisation of power from the federal government can bring true representative and efficient governance to Nigeria.”
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