Rivers: SMBLF faults Tinubu over state of emergency declaration

The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has frowned at the declaration of a state of emergency foisted on Rivers State, including the dissolution of the State House of Assembly and particularly the removal from office of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declaring such move as unfortunate and unconstitutional.

SMBLF gave this position in a statement jointly signed by the Acting Leader of a pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Oba Oladipo Olaitan,
Dr. Bitrus Pogu on behalf of Middle Belt Leaders Forum, Senator John Azuta Mbata for Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Ambassador Godknows Igali for PANDEF, copy of which was made available to newsmen on Wednesday.

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The coalition, while condemning the move, asserted that no provision in the 1999 Constitution, including Section 305 (5) under which President Tinubu claimed to have derived his authority allowed the Federal Government to take over the government of any of the federating states.

This was just as it observed that the grounds contained in the Notice of Impeachment of the Governor and his Deputy published by the Rivers State House of Assembly a day before the declaration of State of Emergency were to all intents and purposes deliberate rehearsals of the reasons given by President Tinubu for his unconstitutional take over of the Government of Rivers State.

“That notwithstanding pretences to the contrary and pandering to judicial pronouncements in denial, the world is not deceived that the House of Assembly which published the Notice of Impeachment is constituted by 27 members who have defected and become members of the President’s political party and that the declaration of the State of Emergency is only a perfection of the impeachment conspiracy.

“That by its service of Notice of Impeachment and adjournment of the House of Assembly sine die thereby frustrating the implementation of the judgment of the Supreme Court in the running of the affairs of the state, members of the House of Assembly of the same political party with the President are responsible for the present situation of ‘the good people of the state not being able to have access to the dividends of democracy’ as alleged by the President.

“That it is most unfortunate that President Tinubu would unconstitutionally terminate a democratically elected administration on the flimsy ground that ‘some militants had threatened fire and brimstone against their perceived enemy of the governor who has up till now NOT disowned them’ without investigation of the alleged culpability of the Governor.

“That is a federation in which the President is vested with absolute powers over security and the federating states denied of any role therein, it is most unfair that the President would hold Governor Fubara responsible for the failure of proactive security intelligence under his command which obviously led to what he described as ‘disturbing incidents of vandalization of pipelines by some militants without the governor taking any action to curtail them.’

“That there is no provision in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria including section 305 (5) under which President Tinubu claimed to have derived his authority which allows the Federal Government to take-over the government of any of the federating states,” SMBLF stated.

SMBLF argued that the only situation wherein governance of a state may be interfered with is provided in Section 11 (4) to which Section 305 is subject, saying such could only happen “at any time when any House of Assembly of a State is unable to perform its functions by reason of the situation prevailing in that state.

According to it, the provision makes it incumbent on the National Assembly “to exercise powers to make such laws for the peace and good government of a state with respect to matters on which a House of Assembly may make laws as may appear to the National Assembly to be necessary or expedient until such time as the House of Assembly is able to resume its functions, and any such laws enacted by the National Assembly pursuant to this section shall have effect as if they were laws enacted by the House of Assembly of the state.”

SMBLF, while further condemning the action taken by President Tinubu, alleged that the decision to sack the democratically elected government and appoint a military Administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state by regulations subject to the consideration and approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) “is an undisguised and provocative handing over of Rivers State to its immediate past Governor and Minister of the FCT whose appetite for continuing ruling of the state by proxy is sought to be thereby quenched.”

This was just as SMBLF recalled that during the hey days of insurgency in the North East, former President Goodluck Jonathan, in conjunction with the National Assembly declared a state of emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states in 2013 without hurting the democratic structures of which the present Vice President who was then Governor of Borno State, in spite of his open hostility to the then president, was a beneficiary.

It, therefore, urged the National Assembly in the exercise of its powers under the Constitution particularly Sections 305 to countermand what it termed the despotic and ominous order of President Tinubu “sacking a democratically elected administration in preference of a military Administrator in a proclamation reminiscent of our unenviable not too distant past.”

SMBLF, however, urged the youths of Rivers State, and indeed that of the Niger Delta, “to restrain from using violent reactions to this unfortunate development, as in the end its the citizenry that will pay the price of any economic sabotage,” even as it further urged Nigerians in general to “stoutly discourage the growing culture of intolerance under the present administration tending Nigeria to a one-party state.”

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