‘Political manipulation’ — Atiku condemns Tinubu’s state of emergency in Rivers

• Retired Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas was appointed by Tinubu as Rivers state administrator during the declared state of emergency.
• Atiku blamed Tinubu for the political crisis and recent pipeline explosions that have worsened insecurity in the Niger Delta.

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has strongly opposed President Bola Tinubu’s decision to impose a state of emergency in Rivers state, criticising the action taken.

In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Abubakar remarked that the “declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers state reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith”.

The president had earlier declared a state of emergency in Rivers on Tuesday due to ongoing political crises and the persistent instability affecting governance in the region.

Tinubu also took decisive action by suspending the sitting governor, his deputy, and all members of the Rivers state house of assembly from office.

Additionally, he appointed Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired vice-admiral, to serve as the administrator responsible for overseeing governance in Rivers during the emergency period.

However, the former vice-president placed the blame for the ongoing political turmoil and recent pipeline explosions on the president’s leadership and federal government negligence.

He argued that punishing the people of Rivers state merely to advance political conflicts between the governor and Tinubu’s allies undermines democracy and constitutional principles.

“Anyone paying attention to the unfolding crisis knows that Bola Tinubu has been a vested partisan actor in the political turmoil engulfing Rivers. His blatant refusal — or calculated negligence — in preventing this escalation is nothing short of disgraceful,” the statement reads.

“Beyond the political scheming in Rivers, the brazen security breaches that led to the condemnable destruction of national infrastructure in the state land squarely on the President’s desk.”

“Tinubu cannot evade responsibility for the chaos his administration has either enabled or failed to prevent.”

“It is an unforgivable failure that under Tinubu’s watch, the Niger Delta has been thrown back into an era of violent unrest and instability — undoing the hard-won peace secured by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Years of progress have been recklessly erased in pursuit of selfish political calculations.”

“If federal infrastructure in Rivers has been compromised, the President bears full responsibility. Punishing the people of Rivers State just to serve the political gamesmanship between the governor and Tinubu’s enablers in the federal government is nothing less than an assault on democracy and must be condemned in the strongest terms.”