The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has strongly condemned the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, calling it unconstitutional and biased.
President Tinubu, in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday evening, invoked Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution to declare the emergency, citing the protracted political crisis in the state. As part of the proclamation, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly were suspended for six months. The president, however, excluded the judiciary and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, from the decision, despite Wike being a key figure in the ongoing political turmoil.
The decision follows an explosion on the Trans-Niger Pipeline (TNP), one of Nigeria’s largest oil pipelines, which caused significant environmental and economic disruptions. While this incident has fueled concerns about security and governance in the state, the CDHR insists that the federal government’s approach is both unconstitutional and selective.
In response to the declaration, the president appointed retired Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas as the state administrator for an initial six-month period, tasked with restoring normalcy.
However, the CDHR, through its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Idris Afees Olayinka, has decried the suspension of a democratically elected governor, deputy governor, and lawmakers without due process. The rights group stated that under Nigeria’s constitution, a governor can only be removed through resignation, impeachment, or incapacitation due to ill health, while lawmakers can only be unseated through a recall process. The federal government’s action, the CDHR argued, bypasses these legal procedures.
“The state of emergency in Rivers is one-sided, as the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, who is a key player in the crisis, remains untouched. Wike cannot be walking freely in Abuja while Governor Fubara and others are bearing the punishment,” the statement read.
The CDHR has therefore demanded the immediate reversal of the state of emergency and urged the federal government to adopt a constitutionally accepted approach to resolving the crisis.
