Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State.
Gatekeepers News reports that Atiku in a statement issued on Tuesday evening said Tinubu’s judgement on the situation is “ an assault on democracy and must be condemned in the strongest terms.”
Recall that Tinubu earlier on Tuesday evening, declared a state of emergency in Rivers following the persistent political crisis and instability in the state.
The President also suspended the state Governor, his deputy, and members of the state assembly and nominated Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired vice-admiral, as the administrator of Rivers State.
Reacting, the former vice president said the president is responsible for the political crisis and recent pipeline explosions in the state.
Atiku said punishing the residents of the state merely to fuel the political rivalry between the governor and Tinubu’s allies constitutes a direct attack on democracy.
The statement reads, “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.”
“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.”
