PDP rejects emergency rule in Rivers, says Tinubu lacks power to suspend elected governor

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected a state of emergency declared by President Bola Tinubu in Rivers state.

The opposition party says the president does not have the power to suspend Siminalayi Fubara, an elected governor.

On Tuesday night, Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers following the prolonged political crisis in the south-south state.

The president also suspended Fubara, his deputy and the members of the state assembly.

The president nominated Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired vice-admiral, as the administrator of Rivers state.

In a statement condemning the state of emergency in Rivers, Debo Ologunagba, PDP spokesperson, said suspending an elected governor is “unconstitutional”.

“The PDP outrightly rejects this attempt by the President to override the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and undermine the votes and will of the people of Rivers State by seeking to depose a democratic government and foist an undemocratic rule in the State,” the statement reads.

Ologunagba said the appointment of an administrator to govern the state is a “clear attack on our nation’s democracy, an abrogation of the votes and democratic right of the people of Rivers State to choose their leader under the Constitution”.

“The action of Mr. President therefore clearly borders on an attempt at state capture. It is the climax of a well-oiled plot to forcefully take over Rivers State for which the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been bent on stoking crisis to ensure that democracy is ultimately truncated in the State,” Ologunagba said.

“Nigerians are invited to note that the situation in Rivers State and the reasons adduced by the President cannot justify the declaration of a state of emergency in the State under the 1999 Constitution, rendering the declaration completely incompetent.

“The PDP alerts that the unwarranted imposition of emergency rule in Rivers State is part of the larger vicious plot to foist a siege mentality across Nigeria, decimate opposition, impose a totalitarian one-Party State and turn the country into a fiefdom

“In any case, nothing in Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution relied upon by the President in the declaration grants him the exclusive powers to declare or execute the declaration of a state of emergency without recourse to the statutory approval of the National Assembly.

“Mr President should recognize that his order to an unelected individual to forthwith take over the government of Rivers State is illegal and a clear recipe for crisis, threat to the peace and stability of not only Rivers State but the entire nation.

“For emphasis, Governor Fubara was democratically elected for a tenure of four years which tenure cannot be unconstitutionally abridged.”

Ologunagba said Ibas not to take any “action or step which is capable of derailing smooth democratic” in Rivers state.