Rivers: We’re concerned about treasury looting; 2027 is here — Gokey Gam, former SSG
Dame Aleruchi Gokey Gam is a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice during the first tenure of the then Governor Peter Odili of Rivers state. Thereafter, she became the Secretary to the State Government in Odili’s second term. She is also a former Administrator of Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority. In this interview monitored in Abuja, she expressed fears about the consequences of the State of Emergency in the state, especially with regards to resources management.
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What is your immediate reaction to the emergence declaration?
Well it is important for us to understand where we are with the state of emergency that has been declared in Rivers State, but I believe most Rivers citizens and residents have been surprised by the several steps that are being taken and the recent one that was announced two days ago, suspending political appointees.
Of concern, particularly because of the statutory boards that are recognized under the Constitution and tenured, it kind of departs from what is expected that the administrator should be doing at this time, particularly because some of those boards, for instance the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission Board, and I believe the Board of Internal Revenue and several other parastatals are involved. I can understand the political appointees like the Commissioners or the Secretary to Government since he has already appointed a Secretary to Government, but certainly not the tenured boards and it is of concern and worry to citizens.
Are you then questioning even the legality of the appointment of a sole administrator?
The first thing is to look at how he came about being appointed because the president who has appointed him does not have the powers to appoint, to remove elected officials of government, to remove the governor of the state, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, remove the deputy governor, Professor Ngozi Odu and all elected officials of the Rivers State House of Assembly and appoint a sole administrator which is unconstitutional and if that is the case, then we question the appointment of the sole administrator as well.
In the midst of all these, what are the options available for Rivers people?
Several options are available to persons directly affected by the exercise of the powers by the president and I believe that suits will be filed against the unconstitutional acts of the president. On the part of the citizens, there isn’t much that can be done since the sole administrator has taken office. But in carrying out his responsibilities, he has to be neutral and he has to be unbiased, but if he starts tampering with structures, particularly those that are recognized under the constitution, of tenured officers, then it becomes a problem to any person who is watching the actions of the sole administrator.
I believe he may necessarily have to have someone he calls the Secretary to Government to carry out some of his assignments, but emergency rule is temporary and what we would like to see is a situation where things come back to normal as quickly as possible.
What if he goes ahead to make other appointments like Commissioners and others? What would be your reading of the situation?
My reading of the situation would be that I expect that Rivers indigenes should stand up at a time like this for their state to be counted. What has happened in Rivers State is unacceptable and as much as possible, there must be concerted efforts put in place to make sure that things come back to normal in Rivers State. This is not a time to look for appointments or to pretend that you want to serve the state.
What we have before us is an anomaly and in saying what I say, I want to refer both Mr. President who has appointed the sole administrator and the sole administrator to the provisions of the constitution that provide for what should happen in a situation where, as said by the Supreme Court, no appropriation law is in place and that is section 120 and 121 of the constitution. How monies can be spent from the consolidated revenue fund of the state in circumstances there is no appropriation law and section 122 provides that in such a situation, all that can happen is that the governor will be able to expend monies for needs that meet the requirements of the state.
Now, if we translate that to what is happening now, we do not expect that the sole administrator is going to be embarking on any new projects, any capital projects. His primary responsibility is to bring back law and order. Well as far as we are concerned, there was no breakdown of law and order. Now that is his primary responsibility and also to ensure that there is safety and security for all. Now the expenses of state that he will be taking care of at this time will be the salaries of all workers and recurrent expenditure.
So I don’t see how the sole administrator is going to require a full cabinet of commissioners because every ministry, department and agency have permanent secretaries who are civil servants and they are the heads of the government departments. They are in a position to guide the sole administrator as to who are the salaried employees and also at the local government level, the HBMs also are the heads of the local governments when there is no elected official. So in other words, the summary of what I am saying is that there is a limit to the powers that can be exercised by the sole administrator and we don’t expect to see him come up with a big array of commissioners to be carrying out any responsibility. We saw the sole administrator at the Rivers State House of Assembly complex yesterday which is an ongoing project and I believe that he may want to see that that is a completed project.
Release of monthly allocations
I speak for myself and on behalf of a group, the Rescue Rivers which is a group of professionals, indigenes of the state who are completely disillusioned and alarmed by what is happening in the state because at the end of the day all we are concerned about is the economic well-being of the state.
So, if the sole administrator has to carry out his responsibilities we still maintain that they have to be guided by the constitution.
The concerns of most citizens of the state are that our treasury is going to be looted and Mr President even in exercising his powers also knows that there must be some form of accountability and I believe that one of the terms of reference of the sole administrator cannot be to carry out any new projects or award any contracts. There is nothing so earth-shattering than the priority now which is to set things in motion to ensure that normalcy returns to Rivers State so that elected officials can assume the responsibilities of administering the state. The sole administrator position is an aberration.
Does the state of emergency declared by the president himself not cover every action under the doctrine of necessity including capital projects?
The first question we should ask is, under what law, how are they appropriating the money? One of the sins of the governor was that he was operating without an appropriation law. Now has the president assumed powers to run the consolidated revenue fund of Rivers state? I don’t believe that that is what was intended by the declaration of state of emergency. That cannot be what was intended. That Mr. President can now expend monies from the consolidated revenue fund of the state and by extension the sole administrator. That cannot be the intention of the state of emergency and if you listen to most citizens of Rivers state and of Niger Delta, our concern and our fears is that our monies are going to be used unjustly for things that we do not approve of or that are not authorized and not for the benefit of Rivers people and everybody has alluded to the fact that possibly one of the reasons we have this kind of crisis on our hands is because 2027 is at hand.
I believe that Mr President should be fair and just and realize that this is a grave thing that has happened and he must be impartial, he must be just, he must be fair to the people of Rivers state, particularly remembering where he is coming from when he was governor of Lagos state. As a governor he would never have taken this kind of thing so we expect that Mr President, his declaration of state of emergency does not automatically mean that all funds in our consolidated revenue fund will be expended without accountability because that is what it is.
Assuming today that the sole administrator exits office, who is he going to account to? Is he going to account to the governor when he comes back? Is he going to account to the National Assembly? Those are concerns and they are very grave concerns by the people of Rivers state and Mr President should try and allay our fears by ensuring that only necessary and critical things are attended to during this interregnum because that is what it is.
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