President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers state has reignited scrutiny of his criticisms of actions carried out by Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s former presidents.
It would be recalled that Tinubu, on Tuesday, declared a state of emergency in Rivers following the persistent political crisis and instability in the state.
The president also suspended Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of Rivers; Ngozi Odu, his deputy; and the members of the state assembly.
He also nominated Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired vice-admiral, as the state’s administrator. The president said the administrator will manage the state without enacting new laws but may issue regulations subject to federal executive council (FEC) approval and presidential promulgation.
Tinubu said the judicial arm of Rivers state remains unaffected and will continue its constitutional duties.
The president’s decision has attracted a public backlash given his previous stance against the imposition of emergency rule by his predecessors — Obasanjo and Jonathan.
As a vocal political figure, Tinubu frequently condemned what he viewed as the federal government’s overreach in wielding emergency powers.
TINUBU CONDEMNED OBASANJO FOR IMPOSING EMERGENCY RULE IN PLATEAU
In 2004, Tinubu, then governor of Lagos, fiercely opposed Obasanjo’s imposition of a state of emergency in Plateau state on May 18.
Obasanjo’s declaration followed months of brutal ethno-religious clashes between Christian and Muslim communities in Jos, the state capital, and surrounding areas, leaving over 2,000 dead and displacing thousands.
Obasanjo had suspended Joshua Dariye, the Plateau governor at the time, and the state assembly and appointed Chris Alli, a retired major general, as sole administrator for six months.
Tinubu condemned the move as an assault on Nigeria’s federal structure, arguing that it stripped Plateau of its democratic rights without exhausting dialogue or state-level solutions.
“It is unfortunate and illegal; this has to be discouraged. It is a bad precedent. What the president of the country has done, I pray it doesn’t stand,” Tinubu was quoted to have said in 2004.
TINUBU ACCUSED JONATHAN OF INTIMIDATING GOVERNORS
In 2013, Tinubu, a leading voice in the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), criticised Jonathan’s state of emergency declaration in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states on May 14.
The measure came as the Boko Haram insurgency intensified, with bombings, abductions, and territorial seizures overwhelming local security forces in the three states.
Though, unlike Obasanjo, Jonathan retained the elected governors — Kashim Shettima, Ibrahim Geidam, and Murtala Nyako — but imposed dusk-to-dawn curfews, deployed heavy military presence, and granted security forces sweeping powers.
Tinubu slammed the decision as an “unpardonable mediocrity” that bypassed constitutional checks, warning that it risked turning the north-east into a militarized zone under federal control.
He said with the declaration, Jonathan had “intimidated and emasculated” the governors, adding that the action had scuttled the constitutional functions of the governors and elected officials in the three states.
“Let all those who love this country genuinely advise the federal government not to tinker with the mandates of these governors under any guise. It is a potentially destructive path to take,” he wrote at the time.
“Hiding under some nebulous claims that border on the intractability of the security challenges posed by Boko Haram or some acclaimed traditionalists who have killed some policemen to render ineffective the constitutional powers vested in elected governors and other representatives of the people, perceived as not amenable to manipulation for the 2015 project, amounts to reducing serious issues bordering on the survival of the country to partisan politics.”
Tinubu’s criticisms were rooted in his advocacy for federalism and autonomy for state governments.
“No governor of a state in Nigeria is the chief security officer. Putting the blame on the governors, who have been effectively emasculated, for the abysmal performance of the government at the centre which controls all these security agencies, smacks of ignorance and mischief,” he said as opposition leader in 2013.
“The president’s pronouncement, which seeks to abridge or has the potential of totally scuttling the constitutional functions of governors and other elected representatives of the people, will be counterproductive in the long run.”
In 2005, Tinubu, as a governor, vowed to defend the “territorial integrity and sovereignty” of Lagos against the tyranny of the federal government. He also accused Jonathan of using the insurgency as a pretext to weaken opposition strongholds in the north, where the APC was gaining traction.
Now, as the president, Tinubu’s emergency declaration in Rivers mirrors the actions he once strongly condemned.
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