By Folorunso Alagbede, in Abuja
Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has faulted the declaration of State emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu, saying that it reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2023 general election said this in a statement personally signed by him on Tuesday in reaction to the development.
Atiku said that punishing the people of Rivers State just to serve the political gamesmanship between the governor and his (Tinubu’s) enablers in the federal government is nothing less than an assault on democracy and must be condemned in the strongest terms.
He stated that it is an unforgivable failure that under Tinubu’s watch, the Niger Delta has been thrown back into an era of violent unrest and instability, undoing the hard-won peace secured by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
The statement by the former Vice President reads, “The declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith.
“Anyone paying attention to the unfolding crisis knows that Bola Tinubu has been a vested partisan actor in the political turmoil engulfing Rivers.
“His blatant refusal — or calculated negligence — in preventing this escalation is nothing short of disgraceful.
“Beyond the political scheming in Rivers, the brazen security breaches that led to the condemnable destruction of national infrastructure in the state land squarely on the President’s desk.
“Tinubu cannot evade responsibility for the chaos his administration has either enabled or failed to prevent.
“It is an unforgivable failure that under Tinubu’s watch, the Niger Delta has been thrown back into an era of violent unrest and instability — undoing the hard-won peace secured by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
“Years of progress have been recklessly erased in pursuit of selfish political calculations.
“If federal infrastructure in Rivers has been compromised, the President bears full responsibility.
“Punishing the people of Rivers State just to serve the political gamesmanship between the governor and Tinubu’s enablers in the federal government is nothing less than an assault on democracy and must be condemned in the strongest terms”, he said.
