Atiku rejects Emergency rule in Rivers, accuses Tinubu of assaulting democracy

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has rejected the declaration of State of Emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Daily Trust had reported how the president made the declaration in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday night. He attributed the development to the unrest in the state, saying several oil pipelines had been blown […]

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has rejected the declaration of State of Emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Daily Trust had reported how the president made the declaration in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday night.

He attributed the development to the unrest in the state, saying several oil pipelines had been blown up by militants.

The President also suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, for six months.

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In addition, Tinubu suspended all elected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and appointed Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd.) as administrator to take charge of the state’s affairs.

Weighing in, Atiku, in a statement personally signed by him, said the declaration of state of emergency in Rivers “reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith.”

The statement reads: “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.”

DailyTrust reports that Fubara has been engaged in a political tussle with his estranged political godfather, Nyesom Wike, who is currently the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).