By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja
Governor Fubara has just entered the history books of Nigeria!!!
Many years from now, people would read about Governor Fubara and students of history and government would write essays about his heroics!!!
Poets would write epics and odes about his courage during the many battles that he fought!!!
In the eyes of right-thinking persons, Governor Fubara has entered the annals of Nigerian history for his greatness as a man (even though his antagonist described him as a “small boy”)!!!
How can Governor Fubara be described by Wike as a “small boy”.
Yet, Wike alone could not tackle and subdue the said “small boy”!!!
Wike had to engage the services of not less than when it took the combined forces of Nyesom Ezenwo Wike (NEW), a Resolution by two-thirds of the 469 Legislators of the National Assembly (NASS), five Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, 27 law-makers of the Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA), Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and finally President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT) to tackle Governor Fubara!!!
Therein lies the greatness of Governor Fubara, a so-called “small boy” whom it required all the three Arms of the Federal Government to tackle, the arms of government are as follows:
- the judiciary (or is it juju-sharing-lol);
- The Executive (PBAT and the AGF; and finally;
- The National Assembly.
How do we define such greatness? What is greatness?
The reputed Historian “H. G. Wells said a man’s greatness can be measured by what he leaves to grow, and whether he started others to think along fresh lines with a vigor that persisted after him .”
From the foregoing definition of greatness, Governor Fubara’s greatness meets all the criteria of true greatness!!!
Ever since his battles started in December 2023, Governor Fubara’s ordeal has caused so many right-thinking Nigerians to ” start thinking along fresh lines with a vigor that persisted after him”
It was Governor Fubara’s resistance to impeachment by Amaewhule and his gang of 26 law-makers that got right-thinking persons to reason along the fresh line of thoughts that the entire (or even a part of it) monthly allocations or Commonwealth of Rivers State (and any other State) ought not to be submitted to any godfather even if the said godfather is responsible for the electoral victory of Governor Fubara!!!
It was Governor Fubara by his words and actions that demonstrated that the ultimate and paramount loyalty lies to the adherence with the oath of allegiance that Governor Fubara (and all other Governors) swore to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and not to any other oath of loyalty to any godfather!!!
With each battle that Governor Fubara fought, whether against Wike, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, the 27 law-makers of the RSHA, the 469 legislators of the NASS, AGF and PBAT, the overwhelming public sympathy was in favour of Governor Fubara.
An online search shows an overwhelming number of essays and commentaries in favour of Governor Fubara’s.legal arguments as he battled all these institutions and officials!!!
In a sense, the battles of Governor Fubara has come to resemble the historical battle “at a place called Thermopylae , where three hundred (300) brave Greeks held off a Persian army of a million men… For two days, the Greeks made them pay so dearly that the Persian army lost all taste for battle and was defeated soon after”!!!
If all the aforementioned Nigerian Judiciary and other major institutions.and officials operated a “level playing field” or strictly adhered to the Rule of Law, Governor Fubara would have defeated all of them namely AGF, Wike, PBAT, NASS, the 27 law-makers of the RSHA.
Contrary to the claim by the AGF, that Governor Fubara was rescued from potential impeachment by the 27 law-makers of the RSHA, it was the other way around.
Governor Fubara was already winning the battle regarding impeachment plot by the said 27 law-makers of the RSHA considering that the Chief Judge of Rivers State was not a willing ally in the hands of the 27 law-makers of the RSHA.
The intervention of PBAT by way of declaration of a State of Emergency is both a face-saving gesture and underhanded, illegal and unconstitutional manner of snatching victory from Governor Fubara (nothing more, nothing less)!!!
This particular last action is reminiscent of how the colonial Government of British had to deploy illegal methods (an amicable meeting aboard a ship) to entrap the great-grandfather of Governor Fubara namely King Jaja of Opobo in the year 1887.
The colonial Government of the United Kingdom did this because all their previous battles against King Jaja of Opobo (through their proxies which were mainly indigenous Niger Delta kings and European trading companies based within the Niger Delta region) had failed to defeat King Jaja of Opobo!!!
Just like Governor Fubara, King Jaja of Opobo displayed a combination of strategic thinking and courageous actions to win majority of his battles.
Let me highlight just two important battles that King Jaja fought.
In the year 1875, the then Queen Victoria of England presented King Jaja of Opobo with a sword and honoured him with a medal of bravery because King Jaja of Opobo supplied military men and war canoes that assisted the then colonial Government to win the war against the Ashanti Kingdom of Ghana. It must be noted that before that time, the Ashanti Kingdom of Ghana had proved difficult for the British Empire to conquer. It was King Jaja’s assistance that made the difference in favour of the British Empire!!!
In the year 1881, the Kingdom of Ibeno (a strong ally of the British Empire) which is in modern day Andoni of Rivers State fought a war against King Jaja of Opobo, however, King Jaja of Opobo proved victorious.
One of the reasons for this victory was King Jaja’s tactical and strategic thinking and planning before the actual battle began.
King Jaja sent spies on espionage to spy the Kingdom of Ibeno especially the British trading companies that were based in Ibeno Kingdom. These were the persons that provide arms and ammunitions to the Kingdom of Ibeno.
Based on information received from his spies, King Jaja of Opobo decided to commence battle during the period that the said British trading companies had traveled to England to bring their products for sale in the Niger Delta region (while taking home to England, the raw materials especially palm oil)!!!
King Jaja won a decisive victory and conquered Ibeno and carried away many of their indigenes as captives and the resided as refugees within Opobo Kingdom!!
In similar manner, in the battle that ensued after the Supreme Court judgment of 28th February 2025, Governor Fubara displayed exceptional tactical and strategic thinking in several ways!!
He issued public statements and followed up with public actions to demonstrate his commitment to implementing the said judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria!!!
Just as King Jaja of Opobo also waited and attacked the Ibeno Kingdom during the period that their strongest ally had departed, Governor Fubara ensured that the Chief Judge of Rivers State, who was supposed to be a strong ally to the 27 law-makers of the RSHA had “departed” from the side of the said 27 law-makers. This had the effect to nullify any planned impeachment!!!
It was at the very low-point in the whole war that WIKE had no other choice than to engage the services of PBAT and the NASS to arrange a “smoke-screen” series of action named State of Emergency by a Gazette dated 18th March 2025) that resembled the sham meeting that the colonial British Government arranged for entrapping King Jaja of Opobo in the year 1887 aboard the ship named H.M.S Goshawk!!!
There are several similarities between King Jaja of Opobo and Governor Fubara’s ordeal!!
The colonial Government of the United Kingdom had previously signed a Treaty dated 1873 between the Kingdom of Opobo and themselves that all trade disputes between the two parties would be amicably settled be arbitration. Based upon the terms of this Treaty, King Jaja of Opobo went to attend the meeting aboard the said ship named H.M.S. Goshawk. Instead of holding an amicable arbitration meeting aboard the said ship, the officials of the colonial British Government kidnapped King Jaja of Opobo as soon as he set feet aboard the said ship and sailed to Gold Coast in modern day Ghana. As soon as the landed in Ghana a “kangaroo trial” was conducted and King Jaja of Opobo was sentenced to exile in St. Helena in the West Indies. Where he later died.
In a similar manner, the institutions and officials of the Federal Government of Nigeria, have used the pretense and unsubstantiated allegation that Governor Fubara is responsible for “Tele-Guiding” the preventing vandalism of crude oil pipelines within Rivers State to impose this State of Emergency!!!
It is ironic that it is the AGF that issued a public statement to this effect.
Vandalism of crude oil pipelines in Nigeria is a serious crime that is classified as a felony and carries not less than fourteen years imprisonment under the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps Act, 2007.
As a very senior lawyer, the AGF did not provide any concrete evidence of any crude oil pipelines vandal that was arrested by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and no such vandals confessed that it was Governor Fubara that “Tele-Guided” him to vandalise said pipelines!!!
In a clear case of double-standards, the Supreme Court of Nigeria in its judgment of 28th February 2025, held that there was INSUFFICIENT “EMPIRICAL” EVIDENCE to support the alleged defection of the 27 law-makers of the RSHA who were captured on video and television as announcing their defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
However, Governor Fubara against whom there is no EMPIRICAL evidence of making any public statement in support of “Tele-Guiding” vandals to destroy crude oil pipelines within Rivers State, was adjudged as having committed the said offence of “Tele-Guiding” by the AGF.
This is the height of double-standards by officials and institutions of the federal government of Nigeria!!!
Exactly what King Jaja of Opobo suffered in the hands of the British colonial Government is what Governor Fubara is enduring in the hands of the federal government of Nigeria!!!
