The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), worldwide, has described the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State as illegal and an attempt to silence people of the state for standing with Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The IYC also accused President Bola Tinubu of being bias in the handling of the political crisis, saying it is now clear that he is acting the script of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
The council in a statement on Wednesday by its Secretary-General, Maobuye Nangi Obu, said it took Tinubu only a few days to end the recent crisis that rocked the Lagos State House of Assembly but “he refused to apply the same political solution in Rivers State. Rather, he set a bobby trap for Governor Fubara so that he can suspend him illegally.”
He maintained that throughout the state broadcast imposing the emergency rule, the president never apportioned any blame on Wike but kept accusing the governor of unsubstantiated crimes, including burning down the state House of Assembly.
Obu said: “It is with deep sadness that we watched President Bola Tinubu on national television make that vexatious broadcast imposing a state of emergency in Rivers State in utter violation of the 1999 Constitution.
“There is nothing in Rivers State that warranted the declaration of emergency rule. This script is that of Nyesom Wike, a man who had vowed to do everything to ensure he oust Governor Siminalayi Fubara from office. What the president did was to carry out the contents of the script.
“The President had from the start of the crisis clearly demonstrated his bias by not calling Wike, the main architect of the crisis, to order. His various interventions have been attached with grave conditions for Fubara, all of which was the grand plan to suspend the governor and declare an emergency rule.
“When the Lagos speaker was removed from office recently, Tinubu applied a political situation, and he was restored and normalcy returned to the assembly and the state. So, why is Rivers State different?
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“Accusing the governor on national TV of burning the state Assembly complex and not cautioning angry youths threatening to blow up oil installations was all geared towards calling a dog a bad name just to hang it. We therefore reject the emergency rule by the president and urge the National Assembly not to give their endorsement.”
The IYC scribe pointed out that stripping a democratically elected governor of his powers and functions undermines the political will and power of the electorates who overwhelmingly voted for Fubara.
He warned that if anything untoward happens to the governor, his deputy, the Secretary to the State Government, the Chief of Staff and other aides to Fubara, it will be consequential, as that is allegedly the next plan of their detractors.
“By removing a democratic government and foisting an undemocratic rule in Rivers State, Tinubu has exhibited the highest level of dictatorship. It is even now clearer that the ultimate plan is to impose a one-party state where only the All Progressives Congress will exist, forcing the ” if you can’t beat them, join them syndrome”.
The IYC vowed to align with all lovers of justice to seek every legal means to ensure that the action of the President is not only challenged but reversed and called on the international community to be aware of what is happening in the state.
The council also called on the military authorities in the state to caution their men against intimidating, harassing, or illegally arresting political targets of Wike or innocent Rivers people and other residents of the state.