Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa and Abeny Mohammed on Tuesday faulted the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.

The SANs described the declaration of emergency state as well as the removal of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, as unconstitutional and undemocratic.

Following the political crisis in Rivers State, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday declared a state of emergency in the oil-rich state and suspended Fubara, Odu and members of the state House of Assembly for a period of six months.

In a nationwide broadcast, the president nominated Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (rtd) as administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state.

Rivers State has been embroiled in a crisis since last year when the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike and the governor fell out with each other.

The situation led to the alleged defection of 27 members of the state assembly loyal to Wike. The lawmakers subsequently lost their seats but were later reinstated by the Supreme Court.

Before declaring the state of emergency, Tinubu had, earlier yesterday, met with Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House of Representatives Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas as well as National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, service chiefs and heads of other security agencies at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

But a ranking senator said yesterday that the president meeting the leadership of the national assembly was not enough as there was the need for the input of other members

“Why the rush? Why putting a retired soldier to take over? It is wrong to encourage military incursion in politics in whatever guise.

What the president did amounts to error of judgement and it will escalate tension in the Niger Delta. It is illegal,” he said.

Lawyers speak

Adegboruwa (SAN) called on the president to rescind his decision to remove the elected government officials in Rivers State and allow democratic process to be applied in dealing with issues.

“The action of Mr President is premeditated and showed that he is biased,” Adegboruwa alleged.

“I don’t support the actions of the governor or the FCT minister, but the declaration has upended the democratic will of the people of Rivers State.“ The action of the president is unwarranted, undemocratic and uncalled for.”

Adegboruwa also questioned why Osun and Benue states, with issues of local government dispute and Lagos State where two speakers of the state assembly emerged in one day had not been met with a state of emergency.

Similarly, Abeny Mohammed said the action taken by the president was extreme and unconstitutional.

He stated: “The Rivers State governor was elected into office by the people in accordance with the constitution and can only be removed in accordance with the constitution.”

However, Dayo Akinlaja (SAN), said the matter was beyond legal analysis as the crisis in Rivers State was an “upshot of a political crisis.”

It’s political manipulation – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday described the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State as political manipulation.

He accused the president of being a partisan actor in the crisis, saying “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,” Atiku said.

The presidential candidate of the PDP in the last election in a post on his verified Facebook page said, “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.”

Why I declared state of emergency in Rivers – Tinubu

In his broadcast, the president said he was disturbed at the turn of events in the political crisis in the state.

He said, “With the crisis persisting, there is no way democratic governance, which we have all fought and worked for over the years can thrive in a way that will benefit the good people of the state.

“The state has been at a standstill since the crisis started with the good people of the state not being able to have access to the dividends of democracy.

”The president added, “Some militants had threatened fire and brimstone against their perceived enemy of the governor who has up till now not disowned them.

“Apart from that both the House and the governor have not been able to work together.

Both of them do not realise that they are in office to work together for the peace and good governance of the state.

“Latest security reports made available to me show that between yesterday and today there have been disturbing incidents of vandalisation of pipelines by some militants without the governor taking any action to curtail them.

I have, of course given stern order to the security agencies to ensure safety of lives of the good people of Rivers State and the oil pipelines.”

The president said based on the situation, he was invoking the provisions of Section 305(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) “to declare a state of emergency on the state and that it takes effect from Tuesday, March 18, 2025.

“By this declaration, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu and all elected members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State are hereby suspended for an initial period of six months,” he said.