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Says APC controls Rivers
From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and former senator from Ekiti State, Ayodele Arise, has defended President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, insisting that the action was necessary to avert chaos and will not affect the president’s chances of securing a second term in 2027.
President Tinubu had, in March, suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu, and all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for six months.
He also appointed retired Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas as Administrator “to take charge of the affairs of the state in the interest of the good people of Rivers State.”
Following the expiration of the six-month rule on Thursday, the governor, deputy, and lawmakers resumed office.
However, the proclamation has been drawing criticism from opposition and other Nigerians, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC), describing it as a threat to democracy.
But in a chat with journalists over the weekend, Senator Arise said Governor Fubara’s actions, including the demolition of the state Assembly complex, as well as attacks on oil facilities, necessitated the emergency declaration as they posed a greater threat to representative government and the country’s economic survival than the president’s intervention.
“By and large, we have to thank Mr President for taking the decision he took. The situation in Rivers State at the time the emergency rule came to bear was almost getting out of hand,” Arise told journalists.
The former lawmaker, who represented Ekiti North Senatorial District between 2007 and 2011, added, “The demolition of the structure of democracy itself, which is the state Assembly, the lawmakers could not sit and oil installations were being bombed, necessitated the emergency rule that the President had to declare at that time.”
“Governor Fubara’s actions against the state Assembly and the demolition thereafter actually gave a lot of room for a third-party intervention, particularly the President.”
According to him, Rivers State is too important to Nigeria’s revenue base to be left unstable.
“Being the President of the Federation, and the way tension was building in Rivers, it is a very important state when you look at our source of revenue. Instigating violence there would drive away the engineers working in the oil rigs and those living in the Port Harcourt area. If the place becomes ungovernable and people live in fear, the President would have failed in his responsibility if he didn’t take the action he took.”
Arise further noted that the conflict between Fubara and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, is over and both are now focused on sustainable peace and development of the state.
“There is peace in Rivers even though I am not privy to the peace deal. The governor has come out in clear terms to say that he wants peace. So those who believe that there must be perpetual acrimony between him and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, should begin to look in a different direction so that peace can reign in the interest of residents of Rivers State.”
On fears that Tinubu’s emergency rule in Rivers may cost him support in the 2027 elections, Arise dismissed the possibility, arguing that the APC has firm grassroots control in the state.
He recalled that the party secured 14 out of the 23 local governments in the 2023 presidential election and has maintained momentum with its performance in the last local government elections.
“Why will Fubara not identify himself with him and say, this man, I am all for him? Even if he says he isn’t, Wike will still defeat him in an election. So anyway you look at it, I think the President is sitting pretty well in Rivers, particularly if you look at the number of employment, the people that Wike has put into jobs in the FCT from Rivers. Those ones will go back home and go and work.”
The APC chieftain also pointed to the structures still controlled by Wike, stressing that local government leaders will continue to rally behind the President.
“Wike is still controlling the structures; the APC won in almost all the local governments. Those ones, they will want to retain their jobs and they are the ones to do the job. They are closer to the grassroots, they are the local government chairmen and they will want to do things that will endear them to the people. So once he has that, he is already controlling the grassroots and that is what we will see.”
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