Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Dele Momodu, and a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, have disagreed over propriety of a state of emergency in Rivers State.

While Momodu faulted President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency, calling it “anti-democratic”, Omokri countered, describing the former’s criticism as baseless.

Tinubu’s decision, which includes suspending Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor, Ngozi Odu, and the Rivers State House of Assembly for six months, has sparked widespread criticism.

Speaking on Channels Television’s programme, The Morning Brief, yesterday, Momodu said the move contradicted the democratic principles Tinubu once championed.
Momodu said: “I think it is very unfortunate. I know President Tinubu very, very, very well. Though I’ve not been in the same party with him, we were together in exile, and he fought gallantly for this democracy. So a lot of us, co-comrades at that time, are actually very embarrassed that we have a pro-democracy leader in government, and yet what we are witnessing is worse than dictatorship.

“You must deepen our democracy, which President Goodluck Jonathan succeeded in doing, which Obasanjo succeeded in doing, despite allegations and accusations of a third term attempt, still managed to hand over power to President Yar’Adua.” He urged Tinubu to reconsider his approach.

“I’m pleading with President Bola Tinubu, please don’t kill democracy in Nigeria. Everybody who loves him will tell him this. I’ve not asked him for anything, but we love him for his contributions to the motivation in the past, which is what is going down the drain,” Momodu stated.

Momodu also accused the ruling All Progressives Congress of intimidating the opposition and warned Tinubu against being misled by advisers. Omokri, however, argued that Momodu’s statements were emotionally driven and lacked factual backing, accusing Momodu of being partisan due to his affiliation with an opposition party.

IN another development, Labour leader and Director General of Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Issa Aremu, has criticised former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi over their comments that democracy is dying in Nigeria and Africa.

While flaying the ex-President’s stance, Aremu said taht despite the challenges of nation-building, Nigeria has been described as a “Democracy Destination undergoing democratic consolidation, contrary to some recent high-profile discordant views about the prospects of the democratic process in Africa”.
Recently Obasanjo and Obi, had claimed that democracy was dying in Africa and Nigeria.

However, Aremu took exception to what he called the “new Democracy-pessimism fad” by those he said “without democracy would not have been able to exhibit their limited leadership ability in the past”.

Aremu, who spoke to journalists at Arewa House, Kaduna during the special prayers to mark the 73rd birthday of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu organised by Arewa Think Tank (ATT), opined that it was time for Nigerians to deepen and consolidate the democratic process, adding that “democratic optimism must not in any way give way to democratic despair in Africa”.