A legal practitioner, Liborous Oshoma, on Wednesday stated that political actors have not learnt any lessons from the suspension of democratic governance in Rivers State.
He stated this on Channels Television’s Politics Today, shortly after President Bola Tinubu lifted the emergency rule in the oil-rich state.
“I do not think the politicians have learnt anything. Today, we have seen it happen in a PDP state because you have a former governor who has one leg in the PDP and one leg in the APC, and so it is easy,” Oshoma said.
On March 18, President Tinubu suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, as well as the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Tinubu appointed retired Naval Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas to administer the state for six months, amid political infighting since 2023 that had crippled the legislature.
Tinubu invoked Section 305(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended), citing the prevailing crisis that had rocked the oil-rich state at the time.
The emergency declaration was condemned by many political observers who argued the move was unconstitutional. It also sparked accusations of a power grab.
But to Oshoma, the declaration was not fair considering the fact that Fubara is a governor elected under the Peoples Democratic Party.
He argued that if the declaration was made in a core state controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in which Tinubu is its leader, the move would have been considered by many as being just.
He argued that the president could have still declared the state of emergency without having to suspend elected officials in the state.
“The President can declare a state of emergency in Rivers without having to sack the duly elected government in that state. You can still deploy police, DSS, Army to the state to maintain peace without having to sack a democratically elected government.
“The crisis in Rivers State is not different from the crisis we see across the board politically. It is just that of Rivers State was so heightened to the extent that you have House of Assembly members that the governor did not allow to sit.
“One would have expected that if this had happened in an APC state where you have this seemingly crisis between the House of Assembly and the governor, and we see a state of emergency, then I will say there is fairness across board,” he stated.
