The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s national broadcast on the cessation of the state of emergency in Rivers State, describing it as a brazen justification of constitutional breach and rape of democracy.
The Executive Director of RULAAC, Okechukwu Nwanguma, also added that the broadcast was “nothing but an act of obstinacy in the face of a clear constitutional breach, illegality, and undemocratic overreach.”
According to him, nothing in the President’s speech justifies the dismantling of democratic institutions in Rivers State in brazen violation of the 1999 Constitution.
He added: “The suspension of an elected governor, deputy governor, and the entire legislature had no constitutional foundation. It was a naked power grab dressed up as ‘restoring order.”
“The complicity of the National Assembly in endorsing this travesty only deepens the injury to Nigeria’s democracy. Instead of defending the sanctity of the Constitution, lawmakers chose to rubber-stamp executive recklessness – becoming willing collaborators in this rape of democracy.”
Nwanguma also observed that even if the judiciary, cowed or compromised, fails to rise to its constitutional duty, history will not be deceived.
He opined that the judicial silence or delayed rulings cannot alter the fact that the President’s actions remain unconstitutional, undemocratic, and dangerous.
He further stated: “History has taken note, and history’s judgment will override every other judgment. What happened in Rivers State is a grim warning: democracy in Nigeria remains fragile, endangered not only by soldiers in uniform but by civilian rulers who trample on the Constitution they swore to uphold. The Nigerian people and the international community must not normalise this illegality. Silence is complicity.”
