Rivers Crisis: Sacrificing Rule Of Law On The Altar Of Political Expediency

The series of events that have followed the political crisis that is currently rocking Rivers State has created a cause for concern as politicians in a bid to adopt political shortcuts to resolve their narrow differences, have resorted to violating the constitution and setting aside the rule of law.
The latest is the well-publicized eight-point agreement signed by some of the feuding parties in Aso Rock, the seat of the Federal Government in Abuja, where among other resolutions, the parties agreed to re-present the already approved and assented to 2024 budget of Rivers State to a reconstituted House of Assembly including members, whose seats had been declared vacant for defecting, for approval; re-appointment of all the commissioners that voluntarily resigned their appointments and financial autonomy to the House of Assembly without the requisite law. These resolutions are clearly unconstitutional and run against the law.
The crisis had blown into the open on the night of October 29, 2023 when unknown persons threw an explosive device into the main building housing the chambers of the House of Assembly complex and set it ablaze, ostensibly to stall an attempt to commence impeachment proceedings against the governor.
The following morning, a faction of the assembly broke into the chambers, suspended the former majority leader, and moved ahead to pass a resolution to commence impeachment proceedings against Governor Sim Fubara.
Since then, the state has moved from one crisis to another culminating in at least two attempts to resolve the crisis by President Bola Tinubu at Aso Rock. So much has happened in the course of the crisis. At least one person was killed by security forces, while many people suffered serious injuries when the situation snowballed into a street protest. The governor was attacked with water guns and teargas when he went to inspect the bombed building. The matter has also moved to several courts in Rivers State and the federal capital, Abuja, where several orders have been made.
Outside the courts, two factions of the Assembly emerged with two conflicting leaderships. Just when it was thought that the crisis was slowing down, one of the two factions, led by Martins Amaewhule, met and passed quick readings aimed at instituting financial autonomies for the House of Assembly and the 23 local government areas.
Matters got to a head when the Amaewhule faction met again, read their previous motions a second time and made open declarations that they had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on whose platform they were elected into the house of assembly, and had moved to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The last attempt to bring the crisis into focus and resolve it at Aso Rock, Abuja was a clear effort at subverting the constitution and setting aside the various court orders, legislative decisions and executive actions, which have become law and functus officios, a call to anarchy and lawlessness. It is an effort to subject constitutionality to political exigency, which is not only unlawful and rascally but an invitation to disregard the rule of law.
While politicians and their supporters are free to adopt whatsoever means to resolve their differences, it is imperative that they do so within the confines of the constitution and the law.
Democracy with its dividends cannot thrive when a few persons begin to tinker with its principles and subvert it to suit private egos at the detriment of the entire citizenry. The constitution provides for processes that people can go through to resolve political issues. And politicians must take to these processes and respect the outcomes of the processes. Anything otherwise, is a call for anarchy where people can choose to disobey court orders and lawfully applied principles. Rivers State cannot at this time, degenerate into that state of anomie. Let the actions of the actors be guided by law and decency.