ATIKU ABUBAKAR CONDEMNS PRESIDENT TINUBU OVER STATE OF EMERGENCY IN RIVERS STATE

Former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, says President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a vested political actor in the Rivers State political crisis and his declaration of emergency in the state reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith. Alhaji Abubakar said President Tinubu’s blatant refusal — or calculated negligence — in preventing the escalation of the political crisis is nothing short of disgraceful. He said that “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.” Atiku Abubakar maintained that President Tinubu cannot evade responsibility for the chaos his administration has either enabled or failed to prevent. Abubakar noted 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.” He said if federal infrastructure in Rivers State had been compromised, the President bears full responsibility, adding that to turn around to punish the people just to serve Tinubu’s enablers in the federal government amounts to an assault on democracy and must be condemned in the strongest terms.