Says Tinubu fails to see Wike’s Role, 27 Lawmakers’ in Rivers Political Saga
By Olawale Lamina
Erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has condemned in the strongest terms, President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State, citing heightened tension in the and the alleged destruction of several oil pipelines by militants as justifications for his unpopular decision.
In a statement made available to journalists, ( a copy of which was obtained by The Pinnacle Times, the party chieftain argued that, “Nigerians and the international community are in the know that the lingering political altercation between Governor Siminalayi Fubara, on one part and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and his bandwagon of moronic Assembly members, on the other part, is a deliberate ploy by the Tinubu administration to capture Rivers State either by hook or crook.’
Recall that in a nationwide broadcast, Tuesday night, President Tinubu, while declaring emergency rule in Rivers State, suspended the Governor and his deputy for six months and appointed an Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd) to steer the affairs of the state within the stated time.
Eze noted that in the broadcast, the President heaped all the blames on governor Fubara for the prolonged political impasse including accusing the him of demolishing the State House of Assembly building even when there was a professional advise pointing to a structural defect which led to the ongoing rebuilding of the facility.
He alleged that President Tinubu failed to condemn the 27 defected lawmakers in the state for frustrating the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment, particularly for turning down invitations from the governor for a discussion to chart a way forward and refusing to accept and deliberate on the 2025 appropriation bill when the governor Fubara tried to present same to them during plenary.
The statement alleged that Mr. President’s stance in the circumstance clearly reinforces and points to his long perceived biased leaning in the whole imbroglio.
Eze pointed accusing finger to the President,saying, “In fact, Mr. President fuelled the crisis and pushed the narrative through the FCT Minister and his lackeys in the State Assembly.
“On the other hand, one can safely say that having failed to use his 27 loyal Assembly members to remove the Governor, the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike succeeded in procuring President Bola Tinubu to achieve, to some extent, the onerous task of getting Governor Fubara out of office, though temporarily, but illegally too.
“There is no where in the entirety of Section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, which President Tinubu cited as the source of his power to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State, that the removal or suspension of a democratically elected Governor is envisaged.
“One therefore wonders where the President derived his powers to suspend a democratically elected Governor.
“On several occasions, more particularly in 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan declared state of emergency in some terrorist-infested states in the northeast region without removing the Governors of those states because he was properly guided to understand that such action is ultra vires his powers and if taken would undermine the basic principles of democracy, escalate the crisis and occasion political unrest.
“The reason preferred by President Tinubu in his emergency rule over Rivers State is a clear pointer that the Nigerian government under Tinubu cares more about oil money than it does about human life.
“Since the President took over power in 2023, Nigerians have died in droves; in hundreds and thousands from terrorist attacks, herdsmen invasions, hunge , and other nefarious acts from non-state actors in different parts of the country to warrant a declaration of state of emergency, but he never did; but a mere threat to oil facility has prodded the President to act with the swiftness of a magic wand. So, in Nigeria, oil facilities matter more to government than human life”.
The APC chief noted sadly that President Tinubu’s action smacks of sheer cowardice, and called on the governor, people of goodwill and the entire Rivers people to “remain calm, peaceful and law abiding in the face of the despotic display of Tinubu at the prompting of Nyesom Wike, in whose hands the President has become an instrument of destabilization.’
Continuing, an angry party chieftain said: “By this unpatriotic, ill-advised and pre-meditated act of national disgrace, Tinubu has really shown he is not what Nigerians think of him.
“At his age, experience and considering his leadership and managerial acumen, one would have thought that President Tinubu would be patriotic, humane, unbiased, upright and truthful in the handling of the political crisis in Rivers State.
“Without mincing words, declaration of state of emergency and subsequent suspension of Governor Fubara and his deputy the State Assembly without suspending Nyesom Wike his appointee who is the arrowhead of the political crisis in Rivers State, is an affront on Nigeria’s democracy and stands highly condemned.
“The fact that Tinubu chose to heap unjustifiable blame on Fubara, condemning and casting aspersion on his person, lucidly portrayed the President’s action as one taken in bad faith, and lacking in natural justice.
“How on earth could a President, on the corridor of passage to the world beyond, who is supposed to be God-fearing, just, fair, upright, humane, and patriotic, to say the least, condescend so low as to avoid mentioning Wike’s name in his demonic presentation?
“So, Tinubu did not see Wike’s role in the political saga or that of the 27 defected lawmakers?”
While restating the call for calm and order in the face of what he described as unwarranted provocation, Chief Eze insisted the people of Rivers cannot allow their democracy to be truncated just because the governor refused to be Wike’s puppet and slave.
He lamented that state of emergency was declared to perpetuate a state capture, adding that suspending Fubara, while Wike, the major culprit in the political war in Rivers State continues working in Abuja and absolved of any blame, is shameful.
“In fact, by announcing an emergency rule in Rivers State, the President has shown that he is the mastermind of the crisis in the oil-rich state and a major beneficiary of the crisis.
“For avoidance of doubt, Eze counselled President Tinubu that the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling in 2007, held that while the President had the constitutional authority to declare a state of emergency, removing an elected governor through such a declaration was unconstitutional.
“The Court emphasized that governors can only be removed through processes explicitly outlined in the Constitution, such as impeachment by the state legislature, resignation, or death, not through a state of emergency.
“The ruling affirmed the autonomy of states and the separation of powers, stressing that federal overreach into state governance violated the federal structure of Nigeria.
“The decision reinforced constitutional safeguards for elected officials, limiting the use of emergency powers to remove state governors.
“But if the stand of the Supreme Court makes no meaning to President Tinubu, let me remind him of his stand against President Jonathan when he declared State of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe State that was under severe threats by the Boko Haram,” Chief Eze stated.
He vilified President Tinubu further saying as then National Leader of defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) he ( Tinubu) rejected the action which he had described as “a dangerous trend in the art of governance.”
Eze quoted Tinubu then as saying that: “the body language of the Jonathan administration leads any keen watcher of events with 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. Borno and Yobe states have been literally under armies of occupation with the attendant excruciating hardship experienced daily by the indigenes and residents of these areas. This government now wants to use the excuse of the security challenges faced by the Governors to remove them from the states considered hostile to the 2015 PDP/Jonathan project.”
He added that Tinubu then had warned that the administration will be setting in motion a chain of events, the end of which, nobody can predict, as experience has shown that actions, such as this one under consideration, often give root to radical ideologies and extremist tendencies, a direct opposite of the intended outcome of unwarranted and unintelligent meddlesomeness.
Chief Eze then hit back at the President in view of his stance in the past, stating that, “The present scenario playing out in the country reminds one of the classical cases of a mediocre craftsman who continually blames the tools of his trade for his serial failure but refuses to look at his pitiable state with a view to adjusting,” and adding that, “It has become crystal clear, even to the most incurable optimist, that the country is adrift. That the ship of the Nigerian state is rudderless is clearly evident in the consistent and continual attacks ferociously executed by elements often referred to as the insurgents in some northern states of the federation, particularly Borno and Yobe states respectively. Indeed, no part of the country is immune from the virulent but easy attacks, veritable indices of a failing state. No Governor of a state in Nigeria is indeed the Chief Security Officer. Putting the blame on the Governors, who have been effectively emasculated, for the abysmal performance of the government at the centre which controls all these security agencies, smacks of ignorance and mischief.
“This Government, through acts of omission and commission, has fallen far short of expectation. It actively encourages schisms and all manner of divisive tendencies for parochial expediency. Ethnicity and religion become handy weapons of domination. Things have never been this bad.”
According to Eze, he (Tinubu) had said it was evident from the grim experiences in recent times that the Jonathan government had failed, or did not know that it is necessary for it to avail itself of the benefits accruable from exchange of ideas and notes on the latest in terms of technology and human resources among nations of the modern world.
He equally argued that Tinubu had opined then that the massacres of local communities by unknown elements will further alienate the people who should, ordinarily, partner with the government in securing their immediate environments.
“The President’s pronouncement, which seeks to abridge or has the potential of totally scuttling the constitutional functions of Governors and other elected representatives of the people, will be counterproductive in the long run. A State of Emergency already exists in the states where JTF operates. Residents of these communities live in constant fear. Their rights are violated with impunity under the guise of searching for terrorists in their respective domains.”
“It is a potentially a destructive path to take. If security of a society is about the protection of lives and property of the citizenry, the involvement of the people is a sine qua non to effective intelligence gathering. Any measures put in place which alienate the people, in particular their elected representatives, should be considered as fundamentally defective by every right thinking person in the country,” the statement added”
Eze in conclusion highlighted that going by section 305 (4) of the 1999 constitution as amended, there is an abuse or misapplication of section 305 where the president derived his power to have so declared.
Eze concluded by stating thus: “Let me pray and hope that the National Assembly will consider sub-section 6 (a) & (b) to revoke this another moi moi pot and save President Tinubu from a self inflicted shame
“For the umpteenth time, I counsel President Tinubu to face governance, adopt socio-economic policies that will remove poverty and hardship on the faces of Nigerians, and slow down on his calculation ahead the 2027 general election.
“Destroying or rather capturing Rivers State for the sake of oil money cannot and will never guarantee your return in 2027, in the face of all this maladministration.
“A word is enough for the wise, and like I say, he, whom the gods want to destroy, they first make mad,”
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