Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has rejected the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State by chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, describing it as politically motivated and an assault on democracy.
Tinubu, in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday night, announced the decision, citing unrest in the state and the destruction of several oil pipelines by militants.
As part of the emergency measures, Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, were suspended for six months, along with all elected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Tinubu also appointed retired Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas as the administrator to oversee the state’s affairs.
Reacting in a statement personally signed by him, Atiku criticized the move, saying, “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.
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“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,” he added.
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