Announcing State Of Emergency In Rivers Has Shown You Are The Mastermind Of The Crisis In The State – APC Chieftain Knocks Tinubu

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Rivers State, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has condemned President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of emergency rule in the state.

He fumed that Tinubu failed to take into cognisance that the 27 State Assembly members led by Martin Amaewhule frustrated efforts by Governor Siminalayi Fubara to implement the Supreme Court judgment.

Speaking via a statement made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, Eze claimed that Nigerians and the international community already know that in the lingering political altercation with Fubara, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and loyalist assembly members was instigated by the Tinubu administration to capture Rivers State either by hook or crook.

He argued that the President’s stance in the circumstance clearly reinforces and points to his long perceived bias.

He said, “In fact, Mr. President fueled the crisis and pushed the narrative through the FCT Minister and his lackeys in the State Assembly.

“On the other hand, one can safely say that having failed to use his 27 loyal Assembly members to remove the Governor, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike succeeded in procuring President Bola Tinubu to achieve, to some extent, the onerous task of getting Governor Fubara out of office, though temporarily but illegally too.

“There is no where in the entirety of Section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, which President Tinubu cited as the source of his power to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State, that the removal or suspension of a democratically elected Governor is envisaged.

“One therefore wonders where the President derived his powers to suspend a democratically elected Governor.

“On several occasions, more particularly in 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan declared state of emergency in some terrorist-infested states in the northeast region without removing the Governors of those states because he was properly guided to understand that such action is ultra vires his powers and if taken would undermine the basic principles of democracy, escalate the crisis and occasion political unrest.

“Since the President took over power in 2023, Nigerians have died in droves; in hundreds and thousands from terrorist attacks, herdsmen invasions, hunger , and other nefarious acts from non-state actors in different parts of the country to warrant a declaration of state of emergency, but he never did; but a mere threat to oil facility has prodded the President to act with the swiftness of a magic wand. So, in Nigeria, oil facilities matter more to the government than human life.

“By this unpatriotic, ill-advised and pre-meditated act of national disgrace, Tinubu has really shown he is not what Nigerians think of him.

“At his age, experience and considering his leadership and managerial acumen, one would have thought that President Tinubu would be patriotic, humane, unbiased, upright and truthful in the handling of the political crisis in Rivers State.

“Without mincing words, the declaration of state of emergency and subsequent suspension of Governor Fubara, his Deputy and the State Assembly without suspending Nyesom Wike, his appointee, who is the arrowhead of the political crisis in Rivers State, is an affront on Nigeria’s democracy and stands highly condemned.

“The fact that Tinubu chose to heap unjustifiable blame on Fubara, condemning and casting aspersion on his person, lucidly portrayed the President’s action as one taken in bad faith, and lacking in natural justice.

“So, Tinubu did not see Wike’s role in the political saga or that of the 27 defected lawmakers?

“In fact, by announcing an emergency rule in Rivers State, the President has shown that he is the mastermind of the crisis in the oil-rich state and a major beneficiary of the crisis.”