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A group, the Coalition of Rivers State Leaders of Thought, on Thursday, faulted the call for the declaration of state of emergency in Rivers.
Instead, it called on the Federal Government to intervene in the crisis ravaging the state.
The coalition noted that anyone calling for an emergency rule in the state merely because of the ongoing political crisis, which has not gone beyond control, does not love Rivers people.
Recall that the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Chief Tony Okocha, had in a recent media briefing called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the state.
Okocha had cited the crisis that greeted the tenure elongation of the local government chairmen that claimed the lives of two persons.
The APC chairman had said, “As it is now in Rivers State, the governor is helpless. The police are helpless. That is why we are calling on the Federal Government to come and help us by declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State to stop further loss of lives.”
But the convener of the coalition, High Chief Sunnie Chukumele, at a news briefing in the state said that the political crisis in the state was not out of hand, and it was not enough for anyone to make such an emergency rule call.
He called for the arrest of Okocha for making such a call.
Chukumele also called on the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to invite for questioning, Dr. Samuel Nwanosike, the immediate past chairman of Ikwerre Local Government, allegedly instigating violence in the state.
He stated, “We call on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser to immediately arrest Chief Tony Okocha and Dr. Samuel Nwanosike for questioning over their utterances which have been widely publicized.
“There’s no situation in Rivers State which deserves that call for a state of emergency because we are witnesses to the developments in our state. As we said in the statement we issued to you today, they are acting a script and God will forbid them that it happens.”
Chukumele maintained that what is happening in the state is a well-articulated script being acted by about 21 local government chairmen in the state, whose tenure ended officially on the 17th of June, 2024.
He said, “The script has just been echoed by the call by Chief Okocha, the APC CTC chairman in Rivers State, for a state of emergency to be declared in our dear state."
The body however appealed to President Bola Tinubu to again intervene in the crisis to prevent further escalation.
It said, “May we also use this medium to prayerfully appeal to the President and father of the nation, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to timeously take immediate steps to wade in the impending catastrophe in Rivers State, caused by political gladiators claiming extreme closeness to Mr. President.
“Also is the propensity for this political conflict to snowball into arms conflicts. Mr President, we pray you ask your Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, our son and former governor, to rein in his political henchmen in Rivers State, who are acting scripts and at the same time calling for a state of emergency in our state.”
