Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has condemned the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly by President Bola Tinubu.

Ekwutosblog recalls that Tinubu in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in Rivers State as a result of the lingering political crisis in the state.

The development has continued to generate condemnation from stakeholders across the country.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, has alleged that Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State tele-guided militants to blow up pipelines in the state.

He made the allegations in an attempt to justify the President’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, following the protracted political crisis in the state.

Fagbemi, who met with the President at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday, told State House Correspondents that Fubara became culpable when he put militants in the state on standby pending impeachment threats on him.

According to the AGF, the Governor deliberately did nothing to discourage the militants from taking destructive action on critical national infrastructure.

He said: “We are in a democracy. There was what I will call telegraphing of the militants, I will say, by the governor. And the reason I said so was when he began, he said oh, he will let them when it was time to act to the militant.

“Let us say it was wrong. Did he come out to disown them? The answer is no. And a week after, they swung into action, you see or witness vandalization of oil pipelines.”

He said for a nation that relies almost totally on oil, for anyone to touch the pipeline, he is not only an enemy of Rivers but Nigeria.

He equally blamed the governor and the members of the state house of assembly for what he termed as unruly behaviours which culminated in a toxic atmosphere where governance in the state was jeopardized.

He pushed back on criticisms that the president’s action was hasty, noting that people were living in fear while others were dying.

Fagbemi again justified that both the Governor and his deputy were suspended because it is an extraordinary situation.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Rivers State, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has condemned President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of emergency rule in the state.

In making the declaration the President had cited heightened tension in the state and the alleged destruction of several oil pipelines by militants as justifications for his action.

Eze, in a statement in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, said Nigerians and the international community already know that the lingering political altercation between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and loyalist assembly members was instigated by the Tinubu administration to capture Rivers State either by hook or crook.

Ekwutosblog reported on Tuesday night that President Tinubu addressed the nation, primarily in response to the political crisis in Rivers State.

During the address, he declared a state of emergency Rivers State.

Expressing concern over the political turmoil in the oil-rich state, Tinubu stated that he was “greatly disturbed” and accused Governor Fubara of demolishing the State House of Assembly building.

He added that after evaluating the situation, he had decided to “declare a state of emergency from 18 March.”

He announced the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his Deputy, Prof Ngozi Odu, for six months and appointed an Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas, Rtd, to steer the affairs of the state for the period of the pendency of the emergency rule.

Eze slammed the President for failing to highlight the fact that the 27 State Assembly members led my Martin Amaewhule frustrated 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 tried to present same to them during plenary.

Eze said the President’s stance in the circumstance clearly reinforces and points to his long perceived biased leaning in the whole imbroglio.

“In fact, Mr. President fueled the crisis and pushed the narrative through the FCT Minister and his lackeys in the State Assembly,” Eze alleged in his statement.

“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.

“Since the President took over power in 2023, Nigerians have died in droves; in hundreds and thousands from terrorist attacks, herdsmen invasions, hunger , 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 the government than human life.

“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, the declaration of state of emergency and subsequent suspension of Governor Fubara, his Deputy and 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.

“So, Tinubu did not see Wike’s role in the political saga or that of the 27 defected lawmakers?

He stated that the ” 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.”