There has been no dull moment in Rivers State since 2023 when Siminialayi Fubara upon inauguration chose to fight his own government. But with the Supreme Court’s February 28 declaration that there has been no government in Rivers in the last two years, in spite of all the drama, including bombing of the assembly complex, conducting LGA election in defiance of court order, and presentation of budget to a three-man assembly, we now know all have been noise without substance or ‘a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing’ (William Shakespeare).

 No thanks to Rivers fair weather friends led by the likes of Ikenga Ugochinyere, an Imo member  of the House of Representatives, who today claims to speak on behalf of opposition lawmakers coalition in the House. His undefined mission during most of his N6.5m one-hour “news commercialization’ appearances, seems to be targeted at further destabilization of PDP or prolonging the nightmare of people of Rivers State. Of course, we also have sympathisers of Labour and PDP in borrowed toga of Arise TV journalists whose motive for fighting Fubara’s war like a slave is Wike, his estranged impetuous and abrasive godfather.

Fubara by virtue of the February 28 Supreme Court ruling had an opportunity to dig himself out of the hole. President Tinubu’s call on him to stoop to conquer because ‘compromise is democracy’s highest badge of honour was another chance. Fubara however chose to keep huffing and bluffing because of backing by meddlers like Ugochinyere and Arise TV. Last Thursday, the former gave vent to this by first taking an hour slot of “news commercialisation” in TVC and later the same day in Arise platform to embark on his usual monologue.

 And what did he fritter the N6.5m on? The assembly’s alleged intention to seek court order to stop the conduct of the local government and, the assembly’s plan to amend the Rivers Independent Electoral Commission law.

It is sad Fubara thinks some windbags from outside his state love his state more than the state’s elected lawmakers who by the way, do not need permission of interlopers to make laws.

And as for Arise TV, its last Thursday’s analysis of Wike’s Wednesday chat with some journalists was a disservice to journalism. There were misrepresentation of facts, outright lies, odious comparisons and an attempt to set the Ijaw nation against other nationalities in the Niger Delta region.

First, Arise TV along with Jake Epelle, their invited quest, agreed that Governor Fubara has been thoroughly humiliated, ridiculed and dishonoured because of his humility. They all agreed Fubara needs to become more Machiavellian since his humility has become a burden. They declared with shocking finality, that Tinubu was behind the crisis in Rivers even without proof.

They falsely claimed Rivers House of Assembly locked out the governor. How do you lock out someone who was not being expected? Governor Fubara himself confirmed he was on a road show or out to play to the gallery by branching at the assembly quarters when he was scheduled to commission some projects in Okirika at 10am. He left with the following parting words “maybe they are still working on the letter and will later get in touch with me”.

On impeachment, it was unfair to impute meaning to what Wike said in an answer to Arise TV question. He had said impeachment which is enshrined in our constitution is not criminal and that heaven will not fall if anyone who committed impeachable offence is impeached. In any case, if anyone slammed with impeachment charges is a good politician, he will know what to do, he added.

It was also pure mischief to give the impression that Wike was disrespectful of the Ijaw nation during the chat. In fact what can be taken away from what he said was that those making threat to destroy pipelines are politicians in government; that Ijaw whose sons including Tompolo secured the contract to protect the oil pipelines cannot at the same time be threatening to blow off the pipeline. He said people should stop arrogating power to blow off the pipelines only to Ijaw as other groups within the Niger Delta are also capable of doing the same.

The fact that the Ijaw national body has denounced the Ijaw Youths making such reckless statement seem to have vindicated Wike’s claim that such threats were planted by politicians in government

I am not sure the issues of the population of Ijaw nation, the fourth largest group in Nigeria was the focus of discussion. Wike’s reference to Ijaw during the media chat was to the effect that except in Balyelsa State, the Ijaw nation does not constitute a majority in Akwa Ibom, Delta, and Rivers; that in the spirit of live and let live, he and some illustrious Ijaw elders agreed the gubernatorial ticket should be ceded to Ijaw in 2023. Arise TV only demonstrated its partisanship by exhibiting such  disdain for Wike who they said does not know Ijaw constitutes the fourth largest population because of what they attributed to his academic deficit!

Finally, attempt by Arise TV to draw a parallel between the tragic mismanagement of our crisis of nation-building by President Nnamdi Azikiwe and Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa which led  to the collapse of the first republic and current crisis in  Rivers where an elected governor is at war with an arm of his government is borne out of mischief.

And what are the facts?

S. L. Akintola, the Premier of Western Region was legally removed by his party, a decision upheld by the Privy Council in London, the highest judicial body at the period. Akintola then sought the help of Zik and Balewa, coalition partners at the centre against his principal.  The duo had been bitter enemies of the West out of envy for her giant strides and for leading the battle for the creation for the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers (COR) and Middle Belt states from the east and the north respectively.

Zik and Balewa, who did not see the need to declare state of emergency in the east or in the north where Isaac Boro’s Niger Delta Uprising and Tiv’s popular uprising had to be suppressed by the military, illegally declared state of emergency in the West because a few NCNC member started throwing chairs just as vote of confidence was about to be passed on Adegbenro by the Western House as enshrined in the constitution. (Premiers Ahmadu Bello and Okpara had earlier breached the constitution by their refusal to recognize Adegbenro).

The first victim of the state of emergency was Awo who was detained in mosquito-infested Lekki while Akintola who had been constitutionally removed and Fani-Kayode of NCNC were imposed as Premier and deputy premier of Western region by Balewa and Zik.

In breach of constitutional provision which disallowed the centre from interfering in the affairs of the regions, Zik and Balewa decided to probe the administration of Western Region between 1952 and 1962. At the end Awo was indicted and  accused of theft while his deputy who single-handedly controlled the affairs of the region from 1959 was let off the hook because he served as the prosecution witness.

To ensure Awo will be too old to ask how Nigeria was being run by the time he gets out of prison, he was slammed with  treasonable charges which provided an excuse for Zik and Balewa, the coalition leaders, to send Awo and his colleagues to 10 years imprisonment.

The Yoruba waited patiently for the 1964 Western Regional election to liberate themselves but Fani-Kayode publicly swore he and Akintola would win the election whether the people voted for them or not. Zik and Balewa, as coalition leaders, went on to massively rig the 1964 election in favour of their stooges – Akintola and Fani-Kayode.

It was at this point the people of the West resolved that ‘those who sowed the wind must reap the whirlwind’. Violence, code-named “Operation wet e” broke out with dead bodies littering major streets of major towns in Yoruba land. The battle was against those Yoruba identified as traitors.

We cannot trivialise the above historical facts by attempting to draw a parallel between it and Fubara’s self-inflicted 2023 crisis when he blindly decided to fight his own government. And except for those engaged in mischief to give a false narrative of our past history, there is no basis to compare Zik and Balewa’s malevolent handling of Western Region crisis with President Tinubu’s handling of Fubara’s disagreement with an arm of his government.

President Tinubu did what a statesman should do by making Fubara sign a truce with the warring members of an arm of his government in the presence of Rivers elders. If he breached his undertaking, it was because he, as an office holder, who does not know that in a democracy, rulers rule but others dictate the tune, allowed himself to be misled by Arise TV and non-politicians in politics who probably do not know better.

There are several merchants of death prowling the nooks and crannies of Nigeria. They range from bandits, kidnappers, ritual murderers, and manufacturers of fake and substandard products. All of them deserve severe punishment including life imprisonment at the correctional centres. I shudder reading the press statement by the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, on the recent efforts of her agency to rid Nigeria of fake, expired and substandard drugs.

NAFDAC said it evacuated over 100 truckloads of substandard, falsified, and banned medicines and narcotics from the Idumota Market in Lagos State, Onitsha Market in Anambra State, and Aba Market in Abia State, in six weeks. The NAFDAC director general said if the substandard and banned medicines were allowed in circulation, they could ruin the nation by reducing the quality of life of millions of Nigerians. Adeyeye made the remarks in Lagos on Friday, March 14, 2025, at a briefing while giving an update on the unprecedented enforcement exercise carried out in the three markets, where unregistered, banned, expired or medicines with other violations worth over a trillion naira were confiscated.

She further disclosed that the agency concluded the enforcement exercise in Idumota and Aba on February 28, 2025, while the exercise still lingered in Onitsha until March 8. She was quoted as saying, “What we have found could ruin a nation. What we have found could destabilise a government. What we have found could reduce the quality of life of millions of Nigerians. If you have diabetes, or hypertension, which need daily treatment, such people could die easily with what we have found.” The NAFDAC boss stated that with a large population of Nigerian youth below 40, the narcotics seized could take their lives, and fuel banditry, and terrorism.

She said over 100 40-footer truckloads were evacuated with 27 truckloads from Idumota, already destroyed while in Aba and Onitsha markets about 80 40-foot truckloads of unregistered, banned medicines and narcotics were seized and evacuated. For Aba and environ, she disclosed that 14 truckloads of violative medicines were evacuated from the Osisioma warehouse alone, four truckloads from the Ariara Road warehouse and 10 truckloads of the medicines were seized from the markets.

According to her, in Onitsha, there are 110 lines where they sell drugs, aside from the plumbing market, and the wood plank markets. From the plumbing section, Prof. Adeyeye explained that warehouses were filled to the brim, without windows, with temperatures more than 40 degrees Celsius, subjecting the medicines to degradation before the user starts to use them. She said the agency evacuated 10 40-foot truckloads of tramadol from the plumbing, wood plank and the fashion lines of the market, also noting with dismay that about four truckloads of syrup with codeine that was banned almost seven years ago were also evacuated.

In last Saturday, March 15, 2025, edition of this newspaper, the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Tanko Ayuba, in an interview with The PUNCH correspondent Ajibade Omape gave insights into the menace of counterfeit and substandard drugs. According to him, the World Health Organisation reports that substandard antibiotics have contributed to over 169,000 deaths from childhood pneumonia globally. Furthermore, a 2018 study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene estimated that 64,000–158,000 deaths from malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa were linked to counterfeit or substandard anti-malarial drugs.

The PSN president further said that a study in The Lancet found that 1.27 million deaths worldwide in 2019 were directly caused by antimicrobial resistance, with many cases linked to counterfeit antibiotics. In Nigeria, malaria resistance to first-line treatments like artemisinin combination therapy is growing due to counterfeit anti-malarial drugs. Similarly, multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis is rising because of the proliferation of fake TB medications. If left unchecked, this trend could make common infections untreatable.

Ayuba traced some of the causative factors to include the following:  weak enforcement, corruption, and the high demand for affordable medications. Many Nigerians, due to poverty, opt for cheaper drugs without verifying their authenticity. A 2017 study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that West Africa accounted for 40 per cent of the world’s trade in falsified medicines. Nigeria’s porous borders allow counterfeit drugs to enter from China, India, and neighbouring countries. Furthermore, limited funding for regulatory agencies like NAFDAC and the Pharmacists Society of Nigeria makes it difficult to combat the sale of fake drugs.

The PSN president said under Nigeria’s Counterfeit and Fake Drugs (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, offenders can face a fine of N500,000, or five years imprisonment. That is a mere slap on the wrist!  By comparison, China imposes the death penalty for drug counterfeiting, while the US enforces life imprisonment for offenders under the FDA’s Drug Supply Chain Security Act. PSN advocates for harsher penalties, including a minimum of 20 years imprisonment and asset forfeiture for large-scale counterfeiters.

Kudos to NAFDAC on the unprecedented seizures! However, I am concerned that there was no mention of arrests of the merchants of death who engaged in these illicit activities that are inimical to human health. Is it that NAFDAC is contented with seizure of the illicit drugs while the perpetrators are allowed to go back to illicit trade? That is tantamount to mopping a leaking roof. Unless and until the perpetrators are arrested, investigated and jailed for life, they will not desist. Imagine the entire country being exposed to public health challenges because of the inhumane activities of hundreds of greedy businessmen and women who care less about the welfare and well-being of their fellow human beings.

It is heartrending that the WHO Global Surveillance Report on Substandard Medicines identified Nigeria as a major transit point for counterfeit drugs. I fully endorse the position of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria on the need for severe penalties, including asset forfeiture. Not only that, PSN’s recommendation of pharmacovigilance and pharmaceutical manufacturers investing in tamper-proof packaging, holograms, and blockchain tracking are also well thought out. Wholesalers must ensure that their supply chains are monitored through regulatory-approved distribution networks to prevent flaws and breaks in their supply chains.

The PSN president’s suggestion to the Nigerian public is very instructive. When asked about how consumers can identify counterfeit drugs, he said, “For the public, I would advise that when purchasing drugs or medication, they should buy only from registered pharmacies. This will drastically reduce the consumption of counterfeit pharmaceutical products. Secondly, the public should be wary and always check for NAFDAC registration numbers on the packaging of drugs to ensure that they are not counterfeit or unregistered. There is also an avenue to use SMS authentication codes (MAS—Mobile Authentication Service) to verify the authenticity of the drugs after purchase to avoid using counterfeit drugs to treat illnesses. According to a 2021 WHO report, MAS has reduced counterfeit malaria drug sales by 30 per cent in Nigeria since its implementation.”

The National Assembly needs to amend our laws to tighten the nuts and bolts by prescribing stricter punishments for the merchants of deaths who engage in the sale of counterfeit and substandard drugs, beverages, water, wines and spirits. Media and civil society need to intensify public enlightenment by collaborating with the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria. PSN should intensify routine raids of drugstores and pharmacies for counterfeits, expired and substandard drugs and drinks. Better funding of NAFDAC is a must. A stitch in time saves nine!

After seeing the quantum of decontamination work being done by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project to remedy the heartless damage done to the soil of Ogoniland, it became difficult to pick which title best suits this article.

The first title that came to mind was “In Limbo in Ogoni Death Row”. Then came “Ogoninisation of Nigeria” and, finally, “Nigeria is a Crime Scene”. The first title uses death row cells, where condemned criminals await the hangman, as a metaphor for Ogoni people awaiting the death of their lives and livelihood, from the contamination of their land.

It is reminiscent of the way Saro-Wiwa and other members of the Ogoni-nine patiently waited for the hangman sent by General Sani Abacha to snuff out their lives under the supervision and watchful eyes of a military administrator.

“Ogoninisation of Nigeria” is a way of saying that the scorched earth that became the fate of Ogoniland awaits other communities with oil wells, petroleum refineries, crude and refined petroleum pipelines, petrol depots and stations. Petroleum products, with low viscosity, spread faster, wider and deeper than crude petroleum with higher viscosity.

“Nigeria is a Crime Scene” describes the continuous, cavalier, defilement of oil-producing communities by players in Nigeria’s oil sector, like International Oil Companies, Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited and its predecessor, regulators, and other government agencies and private organisations.

If you took a flying boat from Goi to Bomu, bent down to plant a mangrove tree, felt dizzy and had to be rushed back to the shore, after water was poured on your head, you will understand the depth of the injustice done with the hanging of Saro-Wiwa and the damage done to the soil, water, health and livelihood of the people of Ogoniland.

Apart from extremely hazardous health implications, the contamination degrades the soil, waterbodies and residential areas. This greatly impaired the lives and livelihood of farmers and fishermen in Ogoniland.

The irony is that fishmongers in Rivers State now get their fresh fish supply from Lagos State, a negation of the assumption that you cannot bring coal to Newcastle, whose last deep mine was incidentally closed in 2005 after the decline that started in the 1980s.

In 1993, the Federal Military Government, probably mindful of the irresponsible negligence of NNPC, IOCs and illegal artisanal refineries, asked United Nations Environment Programme to assess the level of degradation of the Niger Delta, using Ogoniland as a focal point. The UNEP study, which started in 2009, submitted its report to the Federal Government in 2011.

Among other things, the report found that the observed level of contamination was higher than the Nigerian government’s stated threshold, which suggests that the government was negligent in enforcing its own safety policies. Also, the failure of biological processes and surface crusts, resulting from burning, greatly hampered natural and cheaper pollution attenuation processes.

When spilled oil gets to their roots, plants die. And fish die in polluted rivers or move to safer regions. Poisonous volatile organic compounds, like benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, alkanes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons become more prevalent in affected communities.

These cause cancer, respiratory and neurological problems, infertility and blindness. Benzene, a carcinogen, was detected in both Ogoniland soil and the groundwaters. When inhaled, its particles, generated from illegal refineries, lead to the premature death of patients with underlying heart and lung diseases.

UNEP’s recommendations included decommissioning of drill assets that failed integrity assessment tests: discouragement of illegal refineries (but because of competition against IOCs, the report did not suggest trade cooperatives for the illegal refineries under government supervision); immediate oil spill remediations; and regular cleanup of contaminated soil and sediments.

In 2016, the Federal Ministry of Environment established the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project to implement the UNEP Report to remediate and restore polluted Ogoniland soil and groundwaters. The mandate included initiating and developing work programmes to remedy hydrocarbon-impacted areas; ensuring full recovery of the ecosystem; providing appropriate technologies for remediation of the soil and groundwater; and responding to future remediation needs.

HYPRED demarcated the pollution-impacted areas into three zones that could either be the low-impacted sites that affect only lands that include farmlands; the medium-impacted sites that include land and groundwater areas; and the high-level impacted sites that include residential areas where people reside.

By the way, anyone living in Lagos and other such high population density urban centres in Nigeria should be aware that, by this definition, they are indeed living in the high-level impacted areas with the petrol stations, petroleum product depots and petroleum products pipelines in their neighbourhoods.

With the potentially nationwide cleanup that HYPREP is likely to embark upon in the future, the $1bn said to have been earmarked for the cleanup cannot complete the job. HYPREP, the special-purpose vehicle set up to do the job, has already embarked upon a lot of activities that will require a lot of money in Ogoniland.

Some of the projects are a 100-bed hospital with facilities to treat cancer, a cottage hospital, and several solar-powered waterworks schemes to deliver potable water to both pollution-impacted communities and those free of pollution. It is also planning a power plant project.

The highly ambitious Centre of Excellence and Environmental Restoration, recommended by the UNEP Report, is under construction. Its mandate is to train experts in environmental and monitoring skills; teach livelihood skill sets; assist members of the community with business plans; and, where necessary, enable local and foreign training for qualified members of the communities.

Yet HYPREP is carrying out its core responsibility of land and water remediation, replanting of mangroves in the rivers that have been cleaned, and training youths that have been forcibly weaned away from land and fish farming livelihoods by the oil pollution.

If no one will mind what may appear to be a repetition of facts, it is necessary to reiterate that the purpose of the decontamination project is to get the people back to their original occupation of farming and fishing.

The good news is that grass is already re-growing in some parts of highly-impacted Ogoniland, even in the dry season. This work, though very expensive, must continue so that the lives and livelihoods of the communities in Ogoniland can be restored.

Though the international green lobby insists that fossil fuels must be phased out, because of its negative global warming effect, it will take a long time to phase it out. But NNPCL and the IOCs must dedicate funds to research for technology that can prevent or control future contamination of the soil and water of petroleum mining, refining and storage communities.

The government should increase the decontamination budget; intensify and extend the cleanup to the other parts of the Niger Delta and the rest of Nigeria; encourage the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency to be prompt in monitoring and ensuring remediation in affected communities.

In addition, state governments should discourage private boreholes and empower municipal water corporations to take responsibility for potable water. Because pollution is practically nationwide, state waterworks should drill water from aquifers far below contaminated soils in communities that host petrol depots and stations.

Australian poet, Gemma Troy, who said, “Your words can plant gardens or burn whole forests down,” may be telling players in Nigeria’s petroleum sector to be more cautious in the way they carry out their operations.

The Rivers State House of Assembly has endorsed President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in the state.

This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday, by the Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule.

Amaewhule said the Assembly would abide by the president’s decision, even though it was not what they had hoped for.

“We assure our constituents that we will abide by this declaration, even though it is not what we prayed for. Mr. President has acted in the best interest of the country,” Amaewhule said.

The Speaker blamed Governor Siminalayi Fubara for the crisis in Rivers State, accusing him of ignoring court judgments and failing to govern in line with the constitution.

“The condition of our dear Rivers State today is mainly because of the malfeasance of the governor, who serially disobeyed court judgments and obstructed the Rivers State House of Assembly,” he stated.

Amaewhule called on residents to remain calm and cooperate with the Sole Administrator appointed by the president to oversee the affairs of the state.

“We urge everyone to remain calm as the Sole Administrator assumes duty. Rest assured that the Assembly will give him all the necessary support to restore order,” he added.

The Speaker also thanked the people of the state for their patience, prayers and support during this period of emergency.

On Tuesday, Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State and suspended Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu and all elected members of the state House of Assembly for six months.

He said the decision was taken to restore stability in the state that has been witnessing political turmoil as a result of the disagreement between the state governor and the state lawmakers.

Following his declaration, the president appointed a former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Ibokette Ibas, as an administrator for Rivers State.

[Punch]

President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers state has reignited scrutiny of his criticisms of actions carried out by Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s former presidents.

Tinubu, on Tuesday, declared a state of emergency in Rivers following the persistent political crisis and instability in the state.

The president also suspended Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of Rivers; Ngozi Odu, his deputy; and the members of the state assembly.

He also nominated Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired vice-admiral, as the state’s administrator. The president said the administrator will manage the state without enacting new laws but may issue regulations subject to federal executive council (FEC) approval and presidential promulgation.

Tinubu said the judicial arm of Rivers state remains unaffected and will continue its constitutional duties.

As a vocal political figure, Tinubu frequently condemned what he viewed as the federal government’s overreach in wielding emergency powers.

TINUBU CONDEMNED OBASANJO FOR IMPOSING EMERGENCY RULE IN PLATEAU

In 2004, Tinubu, then governor of Lagos, fiercely opposed Obasanjo’s imposition of a state of emergency in Plateau state on May 18.

Obasanjo’s declaration followed months of brutal ethno-religious clashes between Christian and Muslim communities in Jos, the state capital, and surrounding areas, leaving over 2,000 dead and displacing thousands.

Obasanjo had suspended Joshua Dariye, the Plateau governor at the time, and the state assembly and appointed Chris Alli, a retired major general, as sole administrator for six months.

Tinubu condemned the move as an assault on Nigeria’s federal structure, arguing that it stripped Plateau of its democratic rights without exhausting dialogue or state-level solutions.

“It is unfortunate and illegal; this has to be discouraged. It is a bad precedent. What the president of the country has done, I pray it doesn’t stand,” Tinubu was quoted to have said in 2004.

TINUBU ACCUSED JONATHAN OF INTIMIDATING GOVERNORS 

In 2013, Tinubu, a leading voice in the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), criticised Jonathan’s state of emergency declaration in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states on May 14.

The measure came as the Boko Haram insurgency intensified, with bombings, abductions, and territorial seizures overwhelming local security forces in the three states.

Though, unlike Obasanjo, Jonathan retained the elected governors — Kashim Shettima, Ibrahim Geidam, and Murtala Nyako — but imposed dusk-to-dawn curfews, deployed heavy military presence, and granted security forces sweeping powers.

Tinubu slammed the decision as an “unpardonable mediocrity” that bypassed constitutional checks, warning that it risked turning the north-east into a militarized zone under federal control.

He said with the declaration, Jonathan had “intimidated and emasculated” the governors, adding that the action had scuttled the constitutional functions of the governors and elected officials in the three states.

“Let all those who love this country genuinely advise the federal government not to tinker with the mandates of these governors under any guise. It is a potentially destructive path to take,” he wrote at the time.

“Hiding under some nebulous claims that border on the intractability of the security challenges posed by Boko Haram or some acclaimed traditionalists who have killed some policemen to render ineffective the constitutional powers vested in elected governors and other representatives of the people, perceived as not amenable to manipulation for the 2015 project, amounts to reducing serious issues bordering on the survival of the country to partisan politics.”

Tinubu’s criticisms were rooted in his advocacy for federalism and autonomy for state governments.

“No governor of a state in Nigeria is the chief security officer. Putting the blame on the governors, who have been effectively emasculated, for the abysmal performance of the government at the centre which controls all these security agencies, smacks of ignorance and mischief,” he said as opposition leader in 2013.

“The president’s pronouncement, which seeks to abridge or has the potential of totally scuttling the constitutional functions of governors and other elected representatives of the people, will be counterproductive in the long run.”

In 2005, Tinubu, as a governor, vowed to defend the “territorial integrity and sovereignty” of Lagos against the tyranny of the federal government. He also accused Jonathan of using the insurgency as a pretext to weaken opposition strongholds in the north, where the APC was gaining traction.

Now, as the president, Tinubu’s emergency declaration in Rivers mirrors the actions he once strongly condemned.

[TheCable]

In the wake of a Supreme Court-triggered crisis in Rivers State —masterminded by Nyesom Wike, whose outsize influence over the judiciary has earned him the fittingly dubious distinction of being the de facto head of Nigeria’s “judiciary” — President Bola Tinubu has, with a stroke of imperial presidential pronouncement, declared a state of emergency and suspended democracy.

In a twist as darkly ironic as it is emblematic, he has chosen to replace elected officials with a retired military officer by the name of Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, effectively reviving the tired and dangerous fallacy (actively nurtured and propagated by Nigeria’s past military dictators) that when civilians falter, only soldiers can "restore order."

This move reinforces the infantilization of civilian governance and reduces democracy to something that must be periodically "rescued" by the men in fatigues.

Interestingly, in May 2013, Tinubu himself condemned the declaration of a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa as a dangerous assault on democracy and a ploy to rig the 2015 election.

“The body language of the Jonathan administration leads any keen watcher of events to the unmistakable conclusion of the existence of a surreptitious but barely disguised intention to muzzle the elected governments of these states for what is clearly a display of unpardonable mediocrity and diabolic partisanship geared towards 2015,” he said.

Now, with his own state of emergency in Rivers, two years before the 2027 election in which he will seek a second term, the question writes itself: Is this, too, a “display of unpardonable mediocrity and diabolic partisanship geared towards 2027”?

Or do the rules of democracy shift when the emperor changes robes?

One hopes Tinubu has fully considered the ramifications of his decision. He based his suspension of democracy in Rivers on the Supreme Court’s tendentious declaration that “there is no government in Rivers State.”

Well, for the millions of Nigerians already struggling under the weight of his government’s reckless economic policies, “there is no government in Nigeria” right now. Governance, for most, is an abstraction at best and an illusion long shattered at worst.

Should the military intervene to restore governance?

Fellow Nigerians, I feel greatly disturbed at the turn we have come to regarding the political crisis in Rivers State. Like many of you, I have watched with concern the development with the hope that the parties involved would allow good sense to prevail at the soonest, but all that hope burned out without any solution to the crisis.

 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 redound to the benefit of 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.

Also, it is public knowledge that the Governor of Rivers State for unjustifiable reasons, demolished the House of Assembly of the state as far back as 13th December 2023 and has, up until now, fourteen (14) months after, not rebuilt same. I have made personal interventions between the contending parties for a peaceful resolution of the crisis, but my efforts have been largely ignored by the parties to the crisis. I am also aware that many well-meaning Nigerians, Leaders of thought and Patriotic groups have also intervened at various times with the best of intentions to resolve the matter, but all their efforts were also to no avail. Still, I thank them.

On February 28, 2025, the supreme court, in a judgment in respect of about eight consolidated appeals concerning the political crisis in Rivers State, based on several grave unconstitutional acts and disregard of rule of law that have been committed by the Governor of Rivers State as shown by the evidence before it pronounced in very clear terms:

“a government cannot be said to exist without one of the three arms that make up the government of a state under the 1999 Constitution as amended. In this case the head of the executive arm of the government has chosen to collapse the legislature to enable him to govern without the legislature as a despot. As it is there is no government in Rivers State.”

The above pronouncement came after a catalogue of judicial findings of constitutional breaches against the Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

Going Forward in their judgment, and having found and held that 27 members of the House who had allegedly defected

“are still valid members of Rivers State House of Assembly and cannot be prevented from participating in the proceedings of that House by the 8th Respondent (that is, the Governor) in cohorts with four members”

The Supreme Court then made some orders to restore the state to immediate constitutional democracy. These orders include the immediate passing of an Appropriation Bill by the Rivers State House of Assembly which up till now has not been facilitated.

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.

The latest security reports made available to me show that between yesterday and today there have been disturbing incidents of vandalization of pipelines by some militant 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.

With all these and many more, no good and responsible President will standby and allow the grave situation to continue without taking remedial steps prescribed by the Constitution to address the situation in the state, which no doubt requires extraordinary measures to restore good governance, peace, order and security.

In the circumstance, having soberly reflected on and evaluated the political situation in Rivers State and the Governor and Deputy Governor of Rivers State having failed to make a request to me as President to issue this proclamation as required by section 305(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it has become inevitably compelling for me to invoke the provision of section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State with effect from today, 18th March, 2025 and I so do.

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.

In the meantime, I hereby nominate Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd) as Administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state in the interest of the good people of Rivers State. For the avoidance of doubt, this declaration does not affect the judicial arm of Rivers State, which shall continue to function in accordance with their constitutional mandate.

The Administrator will not make any new laws. He will, however, be free to formulate regulations as may be found necessary to do his job, but such regulations will need to be considered and approved by the Federal Executive Council and promulgated by the President for the state.

This declaration has been published in the Federal Gazette, a copy of which has been forwarded to the National Assembly in accordance with the Constitution. It is my fervent hope that this inevitable intervention will help to restore peace and order in Rivers State by awakening all the contenders to the constitutional imperatives binding on all political players in Rivers State in particular and Nigeria as a whole.

Long live a united, peaceful, secure and democratic Rivers State in particular and the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a whole.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will address the nation today in a nationwide broadcast on the situation in Rivers State.

The NTA and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria will transmit the broadcast at 7 pm.

All TV and radio stations are requested to link up with the broadcast.

Bayo Onanuga

Special Adviser to the President

(Information & Strategy)

The Alaafin-elect, Prince Akeem Owoade, on Tuesday released his official title.

The palace made this known in a statement.

It noted that the Alaafin wants to be addressed as His Imperial Majesty, Iku Baba Yeye, Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade I, Alaafin of Oyo

“This is to inform the general public that the proper manner of addressing the Alaafin for all activities and in the media is EXACTLY as follows: His Imperial Majesty Iku Baba Yeye Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade I, Alaafin of Oyo.

“The number after OWOADE is the Roman Numeral One (I), not the English Number One (1),” the statement reads in part.

This follows the commencement of a 21-day traditional rites popularly known as “Oro Opebi”.

On March 7, the Chief of Staff to the monarch, Rotimi Osuntola, in Ibadan, announced that the traditional rites would end on Saturday, March 29, 2025.

[DailyPost]