Rivers: Tinubu does not want to extend emergency rule – Wike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has disclosed that President Bola Tinubu may not extend the emergency rule in Rivers State.

Wike disclosed this while speaking extensively on the legality of the Rivers State emergency rule and local government elections scheduled for August 30.He noted that extending the emergency rule will not be palatable to the people of Rivers State.

Wike spoke during his monthly press briefing in Abuja yesterday.

He noted that Tinubu backs the conduct of the August 30 election as a way to ensure democratic structure at the local government level.

It would be recalled that Tinubu had suspended governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State for six months after declaring a state of emergency in the state.

Wike said: “The President, in his wisdom to bring peace and restore democratic governance in local government, came again with another regulation which was in July that this election must be conducted within 30 days, because the President from my understanding does not want to extend the emergency rule.

“Extending the emergency rule will not be palatable to the people but then if you don’t do local government election and leave the emergency rule, how will local governments now access funds?

“And when the governor can’t appoint a caretaker committee based on Supreme Court judgment and they can’t get money, is that not crisis?

“They President said we don’t want this crisis again, while you are here conduct this election so that there will be democratic structure in the local government and as this emergency rule is being lifted, the governor comes, the Assembly comes and they take care of the state.

“If they don’t do that election now and the governor comes, he will give notice of one year by the Supreme Court judgment and when you give such notice, you can’t set up a committee and they can’t have access to the Federation Account so what happens to the local government?

“Emergency rule allows the President to make regulations and modify aspects of the law and that is what he has done by suspending some aspect of the electoral act of 2022 which he has the power.”

The minister also dismissed insinuations that his loyalists were likely to emerge as local government chairmen in Rivers State after the conduct of the election.

He said: “I don’t know who has defined who my loyalists are but ignorance of the law is not an excuse. You know the problem I have in this country is that you people are used to television advocates. With all due respect, where you advocate law is not on television, its in the courtroom.

“When the state of emergency was declared they said it was illegal. How many of them have pursued the case till today? I hear people quoting supreme Court judgment. Who went to court over that judgment? It was we, when we went to court, people were advocating on television – when the judge gave that judgment that the election should not hold because it did not meet the requirement, you came out on television lambasting the court that he took bribe.”

Wike stressed that local governments won’t have access to funds if there was no modification to the law and an emergency rule in place.

He added, “Mind you, it’s only in the local government that there is no democratic structure which was modified by the Supreme Court. When you now say there is emergency and they have no power to conduct election, how could anybody say so?

“Remember that the Supreme Court says that where there is no local government, they cannot have access to funds from the Federation Account and no governor can set up caretaker committee, because of the emergency rule that the judgment was set aside and allowed the local government to assess funds, and that was why they appointed a sole administrator.

“Assuming there is no emergency rule, would local governments have accessed funds today? Will the states have accessed funds today? Certainly not so – the emergency rule becomes imperative.”