A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Monday Ubani, has defended President Tinubu’s decision to declare an emergency rule in Rivers, stating that it was necessary to prevent the complete collapse of governance.
Ubani spoke in an interview on Arise Television, explaining the rationale behind the president’s decision regarding the emergency rule in Rivers.
“Look at it from the context of the president. According to him, it got to a stage where the House of Assembly was not working alongside the governor,” Ubani said. The emergency rule in Rivers was seen as a needed measure in such a situation.
He noted that the Supreme Court had previously ruled that it was improper for the governor to run the administration of the state with only four members in the State House of Assembly. This dire political situation justified the emergency rule in Rivers.
“Even the appropriation that was passed was regarded as something invalid, and so, the president took a hint on that and at the destruction of economic assets,” Ubani added.
He also mentioned that despite attempts to broker peace between the warring parties, including a meeting at Aso Rock where a Memorandum of Understanding was drafted, lasting peace remained elusive.
“So everyday you keep on hearing what was going on in Rivers State and he felt that if we continue to allow this, it may degenerate. So he took that pre-emptive step that he did by declaring a state of emergency,” Ubani explained.
