The Chairman of the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Tony Okocha, has revealed that he went into hiding out of fear for his life until President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State.
Speaking with reporters on Thursday at the APC national secretariat in Abuja, Okocha insisted that Tinubu’s intervention saved Rivers from plunging into anarchy.
According to him, “People like us could hardly leave certain places because we were hiding for fear of the unknown as non-state actors brandished guns and made statements tailored toward anarchy and lawlessness. We all knew there was a looming problem before the President intervened.”
He emphasized that Rivers State plays a crucial role in Nigeria’s economy, and those criticizing Tinubu’s decision would have condemned him had he failed to act.
“Some of these people shouting that the President did wrong when he stepped in would have also said, ‘You had this decision at your fingertips and did nothing,’ if things had gone out of hand.”
Okocha took a swipe at former President Goodluck Jonathan for criticizing Tinubu’s declaration of emergency rule, arguing that it was a necessary measure to bring stability to the state.
“Security and intelligence have been beefed up in Rivers since the state of emergency was declared. With the emergency declared, people like us who are in the opposition in the state can now move around.”
He further claimed that Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and a key political figure in Rivers, had been working behind the scenes to resolve the crisis with Governor Siminalayi Fubara but was hindered by certain self-serving politicians.
Okocha pointed to the Supreme Court’s judgment as a key factor that made the political crisis in Rivers unavoidable, saying it was impossible for Governor Fubara to govern effectively without a functional legislative arm.
“The governor jettisoned 27 lawmakers and was dealing with only three lawmakers while withholding the finances of the State Assembly, which was abnormal. It was a misnomer, unheard of in a democracy, to have 12.5 percent of legislators in place to run the government. The governor also pulled down the State Assembly under the guise of renovating it due to structural defects without prior notice, which was an affront to democracy.”
He welcomed the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) decision to challenge the emergency rule at the Supreme Court, describing it as an opportunity to deepen Nigeria’s jurisprudence.
Additionally, Okocha called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to take legal action, criticizing their silence when Governor Fubara allegedly ordered the demolition of the State Assembly complex.
