Nothing Must Happen To Fubara – INC Rejects Emergency Declaration In Rivers State, Warns Tinubu

The Ijaw National Congress (INC) has described the state of emergency declared in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu as hasty, lopsided and unconstitutional.

The position of the INC was made known by its president, Prof Benjamin Okaba, in a chat with Vanguard on Tuesday night in Yenagoa.

He said Tinubu failed to call the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to order, saying the Minister is the one making Rivers State ungovernable for Fubara.

Naijaonpoint reports that Okaba alleged that Wike wants to turn Rivers State into his personal estate.

On the declaration by Tinubu, the INC president said “It is a clear state of dictatorship in civilian clothing.”

He added that Wike is desperate to capture the political structure and resources of Rivers State for himself, and President Tinubu must stop providing tacit support for him.

His words, “The few comments we need to make now about the declaration of emergency in Rivers State is one; it is too hasty, secondly, it is lopsided and thirdly we don’t think that it complies with the constitutional provisions.

“We say it is hasty because the president has so much opportunity to leverage on the calls made by Nigerians from all quarters to call his minister to order. Then secondly, the Wike himself has been the major antagonist as he has boldly stated clearly that he will make governance impossible for Fubara in as much as he does not dance to his tune.

“And in a recent statement that was credited to him, he said the two conditions he must meet are; allow him control of all the LGAs in Rivers State and that he (Fubara) should sign an agreement he would not contest in 2027.

“So, it is obvious that the man is desperate in capturing state power, state resources and wants to turn Rivers State into a personal estate and property. And the people of Rivers State are the ones to suffer and the governor who has entered into a covenant with the people of Rivers State to deliver sustainable development cannot mortgage that mandate because you want to satisfy somebody.

“These are obvious facts flying all over the place and I thought Mr. President should look at all of these. If the stories about him having some tacit support for Wike or providing an enabling environment to advance this cause may be in the interest of all of them up there.”

Nothing Must Happen To Fubara

Speaking further, the INC president said the safety and security of Fubara must be guaranteed, warning that the world is watching the developments in Rivers State.

He added that Ijaw people would hold Tinubu responsible if anything happens to Fubara.

According to the statement, “I say it is lopsided again because why would you leave Wike and sack Fubara? The best thing to do is to take off everybody that has played a major role and these are Wike in as much as the state governor and deputy governor and assembly are going, Wike should also go. In fact, Wike and all federal appointees from Rivers State should be sacked.

”If you don’t sack them, they will use the position they have now to perpetrate more crises and play a more advantageous role to themselves and all these cries that they want to take over Rivers State are just being played out and it is not good for democracy.”

Continuing, the INC President said: “We have seen right from the beginning that the declaration of state of emergency was one of the options Wike was looking at if the judiciary could not remove him quickly, and if the House of Assembly was unable to take him off. The last option he has is to create a chaotic situation so that an emergency rule can be imposed on the state.

“So, for Ijaw people, we are not too happy because we feel that this is another slap on us but again as to what our position will be, it will be deliberated upon in a wider stakeholders meeting that will be convened later.

“The safety and security of Gov Fubara must be guaranteed by the president…. I’m sure Fubara’s security would be in jeopardy now that the military had taken over the reign of power in the state, we must start now to demand that the safety of our son Fubara must be sacrosanct and guaranteed at all cost. The world is watching and I’m sure this is a clear state of dictatorship in civilian clothing! We need the Ijaws worldwide to rise up and place Mr. President on notice should anything wrong happen to our son Fubara!!”