Declaration of State of Emergency reeks of political manipulation – Atiku
By Tunde Opalana
Former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar said the declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith
The chieftain of the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a response to the latest development in the political crisis ravaging the oil rich state accused President Tinubu of partisanship in the protracted crisis
In a personally signed statement Tuesday evening, Atiku said “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.
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“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.
