Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu, describing it as a political manipulation done in bad faith.
Atiku who reacted to the announcement by Tinubu in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday night, accused the president of having a vested interest in the political crisis in the state because of his quest to grab the oil rich state in 2027.
In a statement he shared on his X handle, Atiku said that the refusal of the Tinubu administration to prevent the escalation of the turmoil was nothing short of disgraceful.
He also condemned the security breaches that led to the destruction of national infrastructure in Rivers, insisting that the responsibility lies with the President.
“The declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State reeks of political manipulation and outright bad faith,” Atiku wrote.
“Anyone paying attention to the unfolding crisis knows that Bola Tinubu has been a vested partisan actor in the political turmoil engulfing Rivers. His blatant refusal or calculated negligence in preventing this escalation is nothing short of disgraceful.
“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.
“Tinubu cannot evade responsibility for the chaos his administration has either enabled or failed to prevent.
“It is an unforgivable failure 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.
“If federal infrastructure in Rivers has been compromised, the President bears full responsibility. Punishing the people of Rivers State just to serve the political gamesmanship between the governor and @officialABAT’s enablers in the federal government is nothing less than an assault on democracy and must be condemned in the strongest terms,” he posited.