Former Nigerian Vice President and presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar, says President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State is an assault on the nation’s democracy
In a press release moments after President Tinubu’s nationwide broadcast, Atiku said the he declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith.
He accused President Tinubu of being a vested partisan actor in the political turmoil engulfing Rivers saying “Tinubu’s
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”
Atiku also said years of progress have been ‘recklessly erased’ in pursuit of selfish political calculations.
Editor Oloyede Oworu