Restore Fubara, Engage Abdulsalami Committee, Rep Tells Tinubu

Before the end of the six-month emergency rule period, the House of Representatives’ Awaji-Inombek Abiante, a member of the Andoni/Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency in Rivers State, requested that President Bola Tinubu restore Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

Abiante also demanded that the president work with the oil-rich state’s leaders, including Abdulsalami Abubakar, to mediate with the conflicting parties and find a resolution.

The lawmaker spoke on Channels Television’s socio-political program Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Sunday.

In a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, suspended Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu, and rescheduled the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. Vice Admiral Ibok-ete Ibas (rtd.), a former naval commander, was also appointed by Tinubu. ), serving as the state’s sole administrator during the emergency rule.

According to Tinubu, who relyed on Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution to support his position, he can’t continue to observe the political deterioration in Rivers. The National Assembly supported his choice in a contentious voice vote that has received a lot of flak.

READ MORE: “Excessive,” Soyinka Faults Tinubu’s Emergency Rule in Rivers.

Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, Femi Falana, the Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Nigerian Bar Association, the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), among others, have expressly rejected and condemned the suspension of Fubara and other democratically elected representatives.

Rigged about intelligence

Abiante claimed that even the National Assembly’s actions have some gaps, and that no voting rights or abstinence ballots were not made in favor of those who did.

He claimed that Fubara did not attempt to rebuild the Rivers State House of Assembly’s destroyed chambers, filling in some of the president’s claims. He cited the new sole administrator’s visit to the building under construction, which Fubara had begun, as evidence that is “not correct.”

According to Abiante, “there was this problem that pipelines were broken, there was an explosion, and it’s been documented that the pipeline is back to work.”

Rejecting the state of emergency in rivers, Atiku, El-Rufai, Lawal, and the Coalition of Political Leaders

He believes that the president’s intelligence could have been manipulated to impose an emergency rule in Rivers.

That indicates that the intelligence that was relied upon may have been manipulated. Are we not in danger if we could rig intelligence in this country? he inquired.

Abiante suggested that Abdulsalami’s peace committee be asked to intervene in the state’s political crisis. Among the members of the peace committee are eminent Nigerians like Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Sultan of Sokoto, and Muhammadu Sa’ad III.

He declared, “I can’t think of any other group of people higher than that.” He didn’t act if he had the chance to lengthen his military general’s rule. Let him take the lead and the committee be revived. See if the parties involved would be more open to discussing the content of the discussions.

You will begin playing Nigerians against fellow Nigerians, so it would be wrong to allow this thing to fester. It would even be very wrong to allow it to go that six months.

What is being discussed on the streets of Port Harcourt is that it is a fight to seize resources from Rivers State. Let’s not forget that Rivers State makes a significant contribution to Nigeria’s and its citizens’ well-being.

Mr. President should also be aware that Rivers State also gave him some votes, not just one. One man cannot vote in his district’s election center or in the local government area.

No one man can cast the ballots in a state, therefore. If the people’s resistance is present, the superman can only cast a single vote, and that would be all, the lawmaker added. “If we now begin to say there is one Superman and because of that superman, we want to mortgage the people,” the lawmaker added.

Opposition “lost its voice,”

A policy advisor, Baba Yusuf, also addressed on the program, criticizing federal lawmakers from opposition parties in the National Assembly for refusing to support emergency rule in Rivers.

Former Airport Free Trade Zone chief executive Yusuf claimed the presidential proclamation has stifled people’s ability to cast ballots for who they want.

The people who have been given that trust by the people have let the people down, and they have now made the decision to escalate the conflict. You can tell from the way it is a personal conflict.

The National Assembly is “my main focus, along with Nigerians.” The president has the freedom to choose. The legislature is the missing link that made democracy the way it is anywhere in the world, which was lacking 25 years ago when we were in the Fourth Republic. We shed tears, lost time, and died.

“Ah, here we are, alas! ” Our legislature is now in place. I firmly believe that the National Assembly, particularly the opposition caucus, has a role to play in the events that occurred in Rivers.

Similar to Yusuf, a social commentator named Dayo Akintobi acknowledged that the opposition had lost its voice in the National Assembly.

Where was the opposition, exactly? They sounded dead when they spoke. There would have been one or two dissents, but there was no way for them to even express their dissent, despite the fact that the votes were not overwhelming.

He claimed that the Constitution’s authors did not intend to give the president the authority to veer away from the democratic process.

Source: Channels TV