The former Vice President of Nigeria, and member of the opposition party, Atiku Abubakar has criticized the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers state, describing it as an assault on democracy that must be condemned in the strongest terms.
Atiku, reacted on his verified Facebook page, after the announcement of a state of emergency in Rivers state which led to the suspension of the state governor, his deputy and the state assembly for 6 months.
He noted that the declaration is a political manipulation, carried out in bad faith.
According to him, President Bola Tinubu cannot evade responsibility for the chaos his administration has either enabled or failed to prevent in Rivers State.
He further noted that if federal infrastructure in Rivers has been compromised, the President should bear full responsibility, and rather than punish the people of Rivers State with a state of emergency.
Atiku said, “The declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith.
“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.
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“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.”
The back and forth which has dominated the political space in Rivers State was punctuated with an explosion of a critical pipeline at Bonny Road in the state.
While the President announced a state of emergency, and appointed a new Administrator for the state, the question remains, was this the only way out?
