3 hours ago
1
A legal practitioner, Liborous Oshoma, has said that political actors have not learnt any lessons from the suspension of democratic governance in Rivers State.
Oshoma stated this on Wednesday when he appeared as a guest on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television.
This was shortly after President Bola Tinubu lifted the emergency rule in the 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.
DAILY POST recalls that 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.
In place of Fubara, Tinubu appointed Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd) to oversee the affairs of the state for six months, following 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.
Many political observers condemned the emergency declaration, arguing that the move was unconstitutional.
Oshoma said the declaration was not fair, considering the fact that Fubara is a governor elected under the Peoples Democratic Party.
According to him, if the declaration had been made in a core state controlled by the All Progressives Congress, APC, of which Tinubu is leader, the move would have been considered by many as just.
“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,” he added.
