Emergency Rule in Rivers part of Tinubu’s 2027 strategy – PDP
By Ndukaku Ike
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State, and suspension of elected officials, by President Bola Tinubu is part of the All Progressives Congress (APC) agenda for the 2027 general elections.
The main opposition party urged members of the National Assembly to override the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State, describing it as unconstitutional to suspend an elected governor and other elected officials in a state.
The chairman, PDP Caretaker Committee for the South South, Emma Ogidi, stated this, on Wednesday , while addressing journalists, at the party’s national secretariat, in Abuja.
President Bola Tinubu had, on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in Rivers State and suspended the governor, Siminalayi Fubara, the deputy governor, Mrs Ngozi Odu and the state House of Assembly for six months.
Ogidi stated that there is allegedly a grand plan by the ruling party to “capture” all the PDP controlled states in the South South in 2027. Apart from Rivers, other states controlled by the opposition party in the South South are Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Delta.
The PDP leader noted that the opposition party had already admonished their governors in the South South to be on their guard.
He said, “they want to capture River State. If you recall, the FCT minister had been saying, he’s going to deliver River State. And this one, he’s not going to stop at River State. That is why we’re telling our people to be very careful. We’re going to tell our governors to watch it. His target now is the South South.
“So, we are calling on you all, to let the whole world to know that this is the 2027 agenda. Nothing else.”
Similarly, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, who also spoke at the briefing, accused President Tinubu of alleged plot to suspend the constitution.
“The purported suspension of Governor Fubara cannot stand. It is unconstitutional, impracticable, invalid and completely out of the question as no provision of the Constitution empowers the President to dismantle a sub-national government or suspend a democratically elected state governor under any situation whatsoever.
“What President Tinubu is attempting to do is to suspend the 1999 Constitution, overturn a democratic government and foist an undemocratic regime in Nigeria in gross violation of Sections 1 (2), 14(2)(a), 180, 217(2)(b) (c) and 305 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)”, he said.
Ologunagba, while noting that President Tinubu allegedly violated the constitution by ordering that the proclamation of State of Emergency in Rivers State should take immediate effect without the approval of the National Assembly, charged the parliament to invoke its legislative power to stop the President.
“President Tinubu violated Section 217 (2)(c) by seeking to dismantle instead of aiding the civil authority. Assuming without conceding that there was a breakdown of law and order in Rivers State, the President is only required under Section 217 (2)(c) to aid civil authorities to restore order; the civil authorities in Rivers State are the Governor, Deputy Governor and the State House of Assembly. The President cannot under the Constitution attempt to dismantle the civil authority he is required to aid.
“Governor Fubara under the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) remains the elected Governor of Rivers State. The PDP urges the military and other agencies to be on the side of the law and restrict themselves to their constitutional role of defending democratic rule and the Constitution.
“President Tinubu should note that a President is expected to be the father of the nation. In a situation of crisis what we expect to find is a ‘Resolver’ of problems not an “Exacerbator” of problem.
“Mr. President, your action now is beginning to hurt the people of Rivers State and the nation because at the time of the declaration of the state of emergency, River State was at peace. We don’t believe we can say so now with the declaration of Emergency,” he stated.
On the revocation of the Right of Occupancy of the PDP by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), he said there is more to it than meets the eyes.
According to him, the property in question is currently a subject of litigation with the FCT Minister as first defendant and the PDP as second defendant.
“There is a pending court case as to the ownership of the property and the suit number of that case is CV 1363-17. It was in 2017 between Nicon Insurance Limited, and here are the defendants: The Ministry of Federal Capital Territory is the first defendant in that case. The other defendant is Peoples Democratic Party.
“There is a pending action in which the minister is a party and he is revoking the same property to which he is a defendant in the court case. That sounds curious, isn’t it?
“The last adjournment was February the 10th. They were in court. The minister was represented by his lawyers, about a month ago. This on the same property that you are purportedly revoking in which you are a party,” Ologunagba noted.
