Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze has commended some notable Nigerians for speaking out against what he describes as the draconian regime of President Bola Tinubu.
Eze gave the commendation in a statement made available to media houses, on Monday.
”I must commend Senators Abaribe, Dickson, Tambuwal and others who stood against this dangerous precedent of a broad day robbery on democracy and stampede against the constitution and constitutional rights of Rivers people.
”Also, I must commend former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Nasir El-Rufai, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, Femi Falana, South South Governors, the entire PDP Governors, PANDEF, Labour Congress, Senior Advocates of Nigeria, civil society organisations, Wabara, Jonathan, Soyinka, etc, for standing with Rivers people and speaking out against this draconian regime and its shades of illegalities”, he stated.
Eze wholeheartedly agreed with the submission of President Goodluck Jonathan who highlighted that the undemocratic act of president Tinubu is nothing but “a clear abuse of offices, clear abuse of power, clear abuse of privileges, cutting across the three arms of government — from the executive through the parliament and to the judiciary,”
While on the other hand, Prof Soyinka said the declaration was against the spirit of federalism.
The Nobel laureate, who spoke to an international news outlet, The Africa Report, maintained that the declaration of a state of emergency in the manner with which it was carried out betrayed federalism.
”Tinubu and the Attorney General can’t claim to be more knowledgeable on the art of governance more than any of the above mentioned leaders”, he said.
Eze who is a stakeholder in the affairs of APC and ought to be supporting President Tinubu who is the leader of the APC said that his membership of APC doesn’t give him the leeway to support evil and undemocratic acts of the party not minding the position of the culprits.
Furthermore, the APC chieftain called for the unconditional restoration of democratic structures in Rivers, insisting that the declaration of state of emergency in the oil rich State by President Bola Tinubu on March 18, 2025, is an affront on the country’s Constitution and a brazen display of his dictatorial tendency.
”The action of President Tinubu, in foisting an emergency rule in Rivers state due to the protracted political altercation between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who incited the needless crisis through his loyalists in the Rivers State House of Assembly, is premeditated, highly condemnable, unconstitutional, reprehensive and undemocratic, to say the least.
”Without mincing words, the unwarranted, biased and unjust suspension of the Governor, his Deputy and the legislative arm of the government of Rivers State, by Mr President lucidly runs ultra vires his constitutional powers and unriddles his bias leaning in the lingering animosity between the major gladiators”, he stated.
Chief Eze demanded Tinubu to rescind that obnoxious decision, as the said Section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, referenced by the President during his infamous proclamation did not overtly or covertly empower the President to suspend an elected Governor or any other elected official of the state government in the course of declaring a state of emergency.
He noted that Section 188 of the 1999, Constitution as amended is explicit and clearly outlines the procedure for the removal of a Governor or Deputy Governor from office and any effort at removing a Governor or Deputy Governor from office through any means or procedure other than as prescribed under the section referenced above amounts to a political maneuvering and mutiny on the supreme law from whence the President himself derives his powers and to which everyone, including the President owe allegiance.
Chief Eze said the unpatriotic and myopic action of the President smacks of authoritarianism and paints Tinubu as a self-styled despot, on a mission to strangulate the country’s democratic institutions in a bid to perpetrate himself into office in 2027.
”The stance of President Tinubu and the way and manner he handled the issue is a dent on Nigeria’s democracy and incontrovertibly portrays Nigeria in a bad light in the global community.
”Consequently, I will take legal action against President Tinubu, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Administrator of Rivers State if the suspension of the Governor is not rescinded and constitutional democracy restored within seven days.
“It is baffling to watch President Bola Tinubu, who claims to have stood and fought for true democracy all his life, turning into a modern-day tyrant, usurping democracy and democratic institutions contrary to the spirit and letters of Nigerian Laws, particularly the Constitution which he swore to uphold.
“By the suspension of Governor Fubara, his deputy and the Rivers State Assembly, President Tinubu, not only contravene the Constitution, but also intentionally trampled on the democratic right of Rivers electorate to choose who leads them, which right they exercised in 2023, through the instrumentality of the ballot, resulting in the emergence of Sir Siminialayi Fubara as Governor” the APC Chieftain stated.
Eze insisted that the speed at which Mr President declared a state of emergency, points to the glaring fact that right from the onset, Tinubu and Wike are the masterminds of political crisis in Rivers State, with the sole purpose of digging deep into the State’s treasury.
”At this point, let me put it on record that the episode leading to declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, only exposed Tinubu as a partial and biased arbiter, who cannot be taken as a sincere and honest President.
“How does President Tinubu, the hierarchy of APC, leadership of the National Assembly, and Wike, feel, that not even the name of the FCT Minister (Wike), was mentioned in the President’s broadcast?
“The March 18, 2025, nation wide broadcast clearly showed a President, who only heaped blame on a governor because he refused to be Wike’s puppet any longer.
“Having known that impeachment was not an option in frustrating Fubara out of office, they decided to call a dog bad name to hang it.
“The next thing we heard was that some oil facilities had been touched in the Niger Delta. The question is: Who were the masterminds? Of course, Nigerians can now read in between the lines what actually transpired, following Tinubu’s action, Eze stated.
