Rivers State Crisis Will Not Go Away Soon, Only Tinubu Can Resolve It – Oshoma

A prominent lawyer and human rights activist, Liborous Oshoma, has asserted that only President Bola Tinubu can resolve the ongoing political crisis in Rivers State.

Naija News reports that Oshoma in an interview with Arise News on Monday, explained that the ongoing power struggle is fueled by financial interests and political positioning.

According to the lawyer, without Tinubu’s intervention, the crisis will continue to fester.

He said, “The box still rests on the table of Mr. President no matter how we look at it – the only person that can call them together, Mr. President, Wike, Fubara, just three of them, no supporters, allow both parties to ventilate, after which, Mr. President can wade in to save the peace and quiet of Rivers State.

“This particular crisis is not a crisis that will go away soon. Like I said, if the minister, Wike, was not a minister, I can tell you that he may not be this emboldening in doing what he is doing.

“Whether the elders like it or not, most of them have taken sides, because it’s all about funds, it’s all about money.”

Oshoma also criticised a decision by the Federal High Court, which had ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria to withhold monthly allocations to Rivers State until the state government presents its budget to a properly constituted House of Assembly.

According to him, the court’s involvement is an overstep by the judiciary.

He argued that the law provides mechanisms for the state legislature to deal with any alleged violations of the appropriation act, noting that it should be the responsibility of the state house of assembly, not the court, to address these issues.

He added, “All of this is happening because we operate a feeding bottle system of government where every month governors will all march to Abuja to collect feeding bottle, that is why a court can order or restrain a government to stop allocation to a state.

“There is no provision in the law that empowers a court to do that.

“In the absence of even an appropriation law, for the first six months, the governor has power to withdraw from the consolidated revenue fund.”

Oshoma further criticised the actions of the State House of Assembly, particularly the fact that only four members were involved in passing the appropriation act.

He said, “Presentation of budget to four members of the state house of assembly, for me, is an aberration.

“If at the end of the day, the court says ‘presentation to four members is an aberration and consistently, instead of representing the budget, you have consistently, after six months, spent money, that is an impeachable offense.”