Fubara’s return: Atiku, Obi accuse Tinubu of dictatorship, says Rivers emergency unconstitutional 

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party presidential candidate in 2023, Peter Obi have launched scathing attacks on President Bola Tinubu, accusing him of dictatorship and gross abuse of power over his suspension of Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and state lawmakers.

Tinubu had in March declared a state of emergency in Rivers, suspending Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and the House of Assembly for six months, and installing a sole administrator to run the state. The move sparked outrage, with constitutional lawyers and opposition figures branding it illegal and authoritarian.

On Wednesday, the President lifted the suspension and directed Fubara and the lawmakers to resume office September 18, after a supposed reconciliation with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

Atiku, in a strongly worded statement on Thursday, dismissed the gesture as meaningless. “Lifting the suspension of Governor Simi Fubara is nothing to cheer about. The suspension was unconstitutional when it was done six months ago and is still illegal today,” he declared. “President Tinubu had no power to suspend a democratically elected governor and state lawmakers. The Rivers shenanigans only signpost the dictatorship of the Tinubu administration.”

Obi echoed the sentiment, warning that Tinubu’s action inflicted deep damage on Nigeria’s fragile democracy. “The misstep that should not have happened. The restoration of democracy in Rivers State after six months of needless disruption remains a sour side of our democracy today,” he said. “It was a constitutional breach that will hurt our democracy for a long time. The real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”

The former Anambra governor urged Fubara, the lawmakers, and political leaders in Rivers to put aside their divisions and chart a new course. “A true leader is one who admits his mistakes, is smart enough to learn from them, and strong enough to correct them,” he stressed, while congratulating Rivers people for their “endurance in the face of provocations.”

Both opposition leaders argued that Tinubu’s handling of the Rivers crisis was an abuse of executive power and a dangerous precedent for federal overreach.