MORE condemnations have trailed President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.
The decision has drawn criticisms from key figures, including the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA); the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Obi, in a post on X on Wednesday, criticised and described the declaration as “unconstitutional and reckless.”
Obi accused Tinubu of violating the rule of law and establishing a dangerous precedent for undermining democracy.
According to Obi, the president’s action has plunged Nigeria back into a state of lawlessness, stagnating the progress the country has made in nearly three decades of its return to democracy.
“It is a degrading back door imposition of martial rule on a strategic part of the federation with all the implied negatives,” Obi said.
The former Anambra State governor further claimed that the political situation in Rivers did not require emergency rule and the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and all the state lawmakers.
He opined that the president’s action was a biased interpretation of Section 305(1) of the 1999 Constitution.
In its reaction, the PDP described the imposition of emergency rule on the state as an “unconstitutional power grab” aimed at derailing democracy in the Niger Delta region.
The party, in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Debo Ologunagba, Tuesday night, rejected what it called an “outright violation” of the 1999 Constitution and an attempt to foist an unelected government on the people of Rivers State.
The PDP condemned Tinubu’s decision to suspend Fubara, and replace him with Ibok-Ette Ibas, a retired vice admiral, arguing that such an action “borders on an attempt at state capture.”
The statement also blamed the All Progressives Congress (APC) for deliberately fueling the crisis in the state as part of a wider strategy to “forcefully take over Rivers State” and silence political opposition across the country.
“It is the climax of a well-oiled plot to forcefully take over Rivers State, for which the APC has been bent on stoking crisis to ensure that democracy is ultimately truncated in the state,” the PDP stated.
The party also challenged the legal basis for the state of emergency, insisting that Tinubu’s move did not meet the constitutional criteria for such an action.
Also knocking the president on the emergency rule, the NBA described the suspension of Fubara and his deputy as illegal.
The body of lawyers, in a statement signed by its president, Mazi Afam Osigwe, stated that while Section 305 of the Constitution confers the president with the power to declare a state of emergency, severe conditions must be met, as enshrined in the section, to ensure that the measure does not violate democratic governance and fundamental human rights.
The NBA said it was gravely concerned about the president’s action, adding that the 1999 Constitution did not give Tinubu the power to remove an elected governor, deputy governor, or members of a state’s legislature under the impression of a state of emergency.
The NBA said a declaration of emergency did not automatically dissolve or suspend elected state governments.
The NBA called the suspension unconstitutional and a threat to democracy.
The ICIR reported that Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State on Tuesday.
The declaration followed protracted political turbulence in the state.
In a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday, March 18, the president suspended the state governor, Fubara, his deputy, and all members of the State House of Assembly for six months.
However, he retained the state judiciary.
Tinubu blamed the governor and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, for allowing the political crisis in the state to escalate.
He particularly criticised Fubara for failing to take action after an oil facility was blown up in the state on Tuesday night.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance