The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.

The group noted that the usurpation of the constitutional powers of the state governor and the House of Assembly by the illegal appointment of a military administrator in Rivers State is the same as the military takeovers that happened in neighboring West African nations of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, absolutely rejects the unconstitutional exercise of strange and undemocratic powers of suspension as announced by the president, who was similarly elected and inaugurated just like the governors and legislators in the Houses of Assembly.

“This unconstitutional takeover of another branch of government in Rivers State under Governor Siminalayi Fubara by an elected civilian president and his grotesque, nebulous, and sham decision to bring back a retired Naval chief to exercise the same powers of an elected governor is a calculated attempt to establish a dictatorship.

“Unfortunately, the judiciary in Nigeria is in the pockets of the presidency and some key ministers. So, it is unlikely that an independent and correct pronouncement on this illegal declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State can be determined under this toxic atmosphere of complete state capture,” it said.

Besides, HURIWA said the president’s decision smacks of filthy hypocrisy.

The group recalled that a few years back, when President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states in May 2013, Jonathan rightly jettisoned the illegal counsel of some power grabbers to remove the elected governors and dissolve other democratic structures in the affected states.

According to the group, Tinubu, who was in the opposition political party, flatly condemned President Goodluck Jonathan.

HURIWA affirmed categorically that a plethora of constitutional provisions back its assertion that the state tier of government does not answer to the Federal Government, as they are separate and coexist as a federation. The President has authority only over the federal cabinet, and any attempt to usurp and collapse the power of an elected governor, even temporarily, is unlawful and should be rejected by the National Assembly.

“The President, even in exercising the powers donated to his office in Section 305 of the Constitution, lacks the legal powers to suspend another elected head of a branch of government inaugurated under the provisions of the Grundnorm,” it stated.

The pro-democracy advocacy organization expressed deep concern that this unlawful suspension sets a toxic and very dangerous precedent for a power-crazy dictator masked as a democratically elected president.

“We are convinced that a state of emergency in Rivers State is uncalled for since there is no clear evidence of any total breakdown of law and order.

“We think that since the Rivers State House of Assembly, whose majority of members are loyalists of the Minister of the FCT, had made it impossible for Governor Siminalayi Fubara to present the 2025 budget, the National Assembly has the power to take over the functions of the state assembly. Allowing it to be hijacked by the Federal Executive Council, in which one of the prominent protagonists in the political instability in Rivers State is a member (Minister of FCT), amounts to a coup against democracy.

“We wholeheartedly restate that President Bola Tinubu has no power to suspend a governor. But if he were enthusiastic about exercising such a power, then he could have directed it at his minister, who was one of those stoking the fire of political warfare and was behind the rebellious Rivers State House of Assembly, which engineered an illegal plot to unseat Governor Fubara.

“HURIWA affirms in solidarity with like-minded patriots that the suspension of a sitting governor under the guise of a state of emergency encapsulated in Section 305(1) of the Constitution is an illegal and unconstitutional act and is simply a coup against democracy,” the group added.

HURIWA emphasized that since the Supreme Court made its controversial judgment, Governor Fubara has vigorously adopted all the right steps toward implementing the decision.

However, the recalcitrant 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, loyal to the FCT minister, have deliberately undermined and sabotaged every step taken by the Rivers State governor to comply with the judgment.

According to HURIWA, evidence abounds that the Rivers State governor wrote another letter to the 27-member legislature loyal to Wike. These loyalists of Nyesom Wike claimed that they had gone on recess on Friday evening, only for these same legislators, who vacated on Friday evening, to be flown into Port Harcourt on Monday to claim they had commenced a purported impeachment with the subterranean motive of frustrating governance in Rivers State under Governor Fubara.