State of emergency: Tinubu to blame for crisis in Rivers – Atiku

State of emergency: Tinubu to blame for crisis in Rivers – Atiku

Former Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has blamed President Bola Tinubu for the lingering crisis in Rivers, that gave rise to the declaration of state of emergency in the state.   

Atiku who made the declaration in a statement, stated that the  declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith. Atiku blamed the president for the crisis in Rivers, accusing him of being a “Partisan actor in the political turmoil engulfing Rivers.”

Tinubu had earlier in declaring the state of emergency, claimed that he had been greatly disturbed by the political crisis in Rivers, adding that the state has been at a standstill, and the people have been deprived of good governance. “No responsible President will stand by without taking action. To restore good governance and peace in this circumstance, it has become imperative to declare a state of emergency. By this declaration, Governor Fubara is hereby suspended”, Tinubu stated.

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Reacting to the development however, Atiku accused Tinubu of complicity in the situation in Rivers. He wrote: “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.

“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 @officialABAT’s enablers in the federal government is nothing less than an assault on democracy and must be condemned in the strongest terms”.