….as reactions trail his action
By Our Correspondent
The lingering political crisis is Rivers State, Nigeria has given President Bola Tinubu the excuse to suspend democratically elected Governor, Siminalaye Fubara, the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Ngozi Odu and the State House of Assembly for initial period of six months.
Tinubu announced the emergency rule in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday night.
Please, see below highlights of the President’s address:
– Mr. President, in exercising his powers as provided in Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), has declared a State of Emergency in Rivers State.
– Governor, Deputy, All State Legislators suspended for initial period of 6 months.
– Vice Admiral (Rtd.) Ibok Ete Ibas (22nd Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) of the Nigerian Navy from 2015 to 2021), appointed as Sole Administrator for 6 months.
– State Judiary not affected.
– Mr. President in keeping with the constitutional provisions of Section 305, stated that he has transmited the gazetted proclamation to the National Assembly and it must be approved by a resolution of both Houses within two days (if they are in session) or within 10 days (if they are not in session).
Meanwhile, reactions have trailed the president’s action. Below are some of t reactions.
Declaration Of State Of Emergency In Rivers Reeks Of Political Manipulation- Atiku Abubakar
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has reacted to the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers state, saying it reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith.
Atiku, in a statement said that anyone paying attention to the unfolding crisis knows that President Bola Tinubu has been a vested partisan actor in the political turmoil engulfing Rivers, adding Tinubu is punishing the state to favours his enablers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Atiku’s statement reads: “The declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith.
“Anyone paying attention to the unfolding crisis knows that Bola Tinubu has been a vested partisan actor in the political turmoil engulfing Rivers. His blatant refusal — or calculated negligence — in preventing this escalation is nothing short of disgraceful.
“Beyond the political scheming in Rivers, the brazen security breaches that led to the condemnable destruction of national infrastructure in the state land squarely on the President’s desk.
“Tinubu cannot evade responsibility for the chaos his administration has either enabled or failed to prevent.
“It is an unforgivable failure that under Tinubu’s watch, the Niger Delta has been thrown back into an era of violent unrest and instability — undoing the hard-won peace secured by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Years of progress have been recklessly erased in pursuit of selfish political calculations.
“If federal infrastructure in Rivers has been compromised, the President bears full responsibility. Punishing the people of Rivers State just to serve the political gamesmanship between the governor and Tinubu’s enablers in the federal government is nothing less than an assault on democracy and must be condemned in the strongest terms.”
Tinubu’s Authoritarian Attack on Democracy in Rivers State
By Farooq Kperogi
In the wake of a Supreme Court-triggered crisis in Rivers State —masterminded by Nyesom Wike, whose outsize influence over the judiciary has earned him the fittingly dubious distinction of being the de facto head of Nigeria’s “judiciary” — President Bola Tinubu has, with a stroke of imperial presidential pronouncement, declared a state of emergency and suspended democracy.
In a twist as darkly ironic as it is emblematic, he has chosen to replace elected officials with a retired military officer by the name of Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, effectively reviving the tired and dangerous fallacy (actively nurtured and propagated by Nigeria’s past military dictators) that when civilians falter, only soldiers can “restore order.”
This move reinforces the infantilization of civilian governance and reduces democracy to something that must be periodically “rescued” by the men in fatigues.
Interestingly, in May 2013, Tinubu himself condemned the declaration of a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa as a dangerous assault on democracy and a ploy to rig the 2015 election.
“The body language of the Jonathan administration leads any keen watcher of events to the unmistakable conclusion of the existence of a surreptitious but barely disguised intention to muzzle the elected governments of these states for what is clearly a display of unpardonable mediocrity and diabolic partisanship geared towards 2015,” he said.
Now, with his own state of emergency in Rivers, two years before the 2027 election in which he will seek a second term, the question writes itself: Is this, too, a “display of unpardonable mediocrity and diabolic partisanship geared towards 2027”?
Or do the rules of democracy shift when the emperor changes robes?
One hopes Tinubu has fully considered the ramifications of his decision. He based his suspension of democracy in Rivers on the Supreme Court’s tendentious declaration that “there is no government in Rivers State.”
Well, for the millions of Nigerians already struggling under the weight of his government’s reckless economic policies, “there is no government in Nigeria” right now. Governance, for most, is an abstraction at best and an illusion long shattered at worst.
Should the military intervene to restore governance?
Back to Ground Zero: Who Advised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Do This?
Press Statement by Senator BabaJide Ojodu CON
I have just picked up my phone after breaking my fast to find multiple missed calls and countless messages about an alarming development: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reportedly declared a state of emergency in Rivers State.
If this is true, then I must ask: Who advised the President to take this course of action? Whoever it is, they are certainly not a friend of his administration, nor do they have the best interests of Nigeria at heart.
How could the President willingly walk into a raging inferno with his eyes wide open? No, no, no… this must be the work of fifth columnists. The Tinubu I once knew would not have made such a reckless and unnecessary decision.
To what end? This is a simple political dispute that requires a simple solution. Call the two gladiators, sit them down, and read them the riot act. One of them, after all, is your own appointee. What will it benefit you, Mr. President, to keep Wike and lose the Nigerian economy?
The Dangerous Economic Implications of This Decision
Does the President realize that the Niger Delta crisis twice pushed Nigeria into recession under President Muhammadu Buhari.
Has he been informed that at one point, Nigeria’s oil production collapsed to below 400,000 barrels per day, down from 2.5 million barrels per day? That catastrophic drop in production was a direct result of political mismanagement and conflict in the region.
It took years of painstaking effort and immense risks to stabilize the region, stop the sabotage of oil infrastructure, and restore some level of production. I should know—I was part of that difficult and excruciating process.
This decision threatens to undo all that progress.
If the situation escalates, we risk another shutdown of vital oil production facilities. We risk renewed pipeline sabotage, illegal oil bunkering, and militant activities. We risk another economic nosedive—at a time when Nigeria can least afford it.
The global oil market is unforgiving. Investors do not wait for internal political conflicts to be resolved. They simply take their capital elsewhere.
Mr. President, this is not just about Rivers State. It is about Nigeria’s economic survival.
And What About the Soldiers Fighting to Keep Nigeria Safe?
While we waste energy escalating political battles in Rivers State, thousands of Nigerian soldiers are still fighting for their lives—and for the nation’s survival—against insurgents, bandits, and kidnappers in the North East, North West, and North Central.
These are the real emergencies. These are the crises that demand decisive leadership.
The men and women of our armed forces are stretched thin, battling terrorists and criminal networks daily. They do not need yet another crisis to divert resources and attention.
Nigeria cannot afford to be fighting on multiple fronts—politically, economically, and militarily. Mr. President, do not open a new war front in Rivers State while real wars are still raging elsewhere.
This Is Not the Way to Manage This Crisis, Mr. President
This portends disaster—for your administration, for the economy, and for the nation.
A state of emergency is not a strategy—it is an admission of failure. There are far more effective, far less destructive ways to handle this situation.
I urge you, Mr. President, to rethink this decision before irreparable damage is done.
Sen. Babafemi Ojudu, CON
