The Nigerian government has been asked to declare state of emergency in Rivers following the ongoing political crisis that has caused unrest in the state.
The disputes over the tenure of the local government chairmen is what is causing tension in the oil-rich state.
This has intensified the conflict between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, a feud that began just three months after the former succeeded the latter as governor of Rivers State.
The governor had instructed the chairmen, supported by Wike, to leave office due to their expired terms.
According to Fubara, tenure extension of the chairmen is unconstitutional by law
However, they refused, citing that the pro-Wike faction in the Rivers House of Assembly had extended their terms by six months because the Fubara government failed to conduct Local Government elections.
In response to this directive, a significant number of youths, believed to be Fubara’s supporters in a show of unity and strength, gathered at LGA secretariats across the state.
DAILY GIST reported earlier that Fubara swears in the newly appointed 23 LG caretaker Chairmen after screening by the Rivers Assembly on Wednesday.
Following the development, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State calls on the federal government to immediately declare state of emergency in the state.
The Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party in Rivers, Chief Tony Okocha, made the call during a media briefing in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
He said, “Rivers State is at war. And the dramatis personae who are responsible for the mayhem that has claimed lives are known.
“The Governor is helpless, the police is helpless. Therefore the APC in Rivers State is calling for a state of emergency in Rivers State as a way of taming the mayhem, the upsurge that is going on in the state. I call on the federal government to act fast in this regard.”
The federal government is empowered to declare a state of emergency during a natural disaster, civil unrest, armed conflict, medical pandemic, epidemic or other biosecurity risk.
