Rivers State Of Emergency Civilian Coup – Ex-Enugu APC Chairman

A former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State, Dr Ben Nwoye, Monday, said President Bola Tinubu is the least person he expected to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State without following the provisions of the Nigerian constitution.

Dr Nwoye, who spoke during Enugu-based Dream Fm’s “Political Voices”, which was monitored by THE WHISTLER, described the manner the state of emergency was declared in Rivers as “institutional capture”.

He said President Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State who benefitted from core democratic processes, would have been advised better than his decision to suspend a democratically elected governor and members of the state House of Assembly of Rivers State.

He further blamed members of the National Assembly for failing to perform their constitutional duties. According to him, “The charade is what members of the National Assembly did. I don’t know how they voted. There are accusations of money exchanging hands.

“The whole thing is a flop. There is the need for the rule of law to prevail in Nigeria so that Nigerians can have confidence in our system.

“I project that one day, President Tinubu will write in his memoir that external forces influenced his decision on Rivers State.

“What happened in Rivers is the use of a nuclear political weapon to diffuse the opposition.”

He recalled that during the #EndSars protests across some states under former President Muhammadu Buhari that no governor was removed despite the breakdown of law and order.

He absolved state governors in a case of breakdown of law and order, noting that, “These governors have no power to quell uprising; it is the job of the commander-in-chief.”

He continued, “What happened in Rivers is a civilian coup d’état. Tinubu, as the leader of ECOWAS, recently gave orders against political uprising in Niger and Burkina Faso. Where then is his moral compass over his action in Rivers State?”

He commended the governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party for agreeing to approach the court to seek redress.

According to him, “The state of emergency is a political fiat. A state of emergency can be declared but not to remove democratically elected institutions.

“In this case, Rivers people are no longer represented in the governance of their affairs because the sole administrator reports directly to President Tinubu. Nigeria indeed no longer has a face in the international community.

“Any non-democratic process is a force. There will be no social justice if we allow this to continue.

“If our institutions work properly, people will be held accountable. I believe the court is still the last hope of the common man.”