Rivers State: ‘It Is Sad That Wike Who Got Us Into This Mess Is Excluded From Fubara’s Punishment’ – Alban Nwapa

President Bola Tinubu has been under fire from well-known Nigerian artist Alban Unoma Nwapa for excluding Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), from the sentence administered to Rivers State Governor Sim Fubara, his deputy, and members of the House of Assembly.

According to reports, Tinubu imposed a six-month suspension on Fubara and declared a state of emergency in response to the political turmoil in Rivers State.
Instead of announcing a state of emergency, Nwapa told reporters in Abuja, Tinubu ought to have summoned Wike to order.

Nwapa, who ruled the airways from the late 1990s to the 2000s with his distinct style of music, bemoaned the fact that Tinubu lacked the constitutional authority to suspend Fubara and his deputy.
He emphasized that proclaiming a state of emergency is a waste of taxpayer funds and he mentioned the financial consequences.

The artist went on to say that Tinubu’s behavior creates a negative precedent for Nigerian democracy.

He remarked, “And to think that this man, Fubara, was democratically chosen by the people, while the other person is only a minister, with no electoral worth in his own state of at least two million eligible voters!

“What’s even more aggravating is that he hasn’t been forced to shoulder some of the blame for Fubara’s sentence.

No one has actually brought up his name. Nobody brought up his name—not even the Supreme Court, the Senate, or the President! It is quite depressing.

The President ought to have summoned Wike to order instead of declaring a state of emergency on Rivers. That’s my straightforward response to that question.

Since Wike is the one who initially caused this problem, calling him to order would have been the prudent course of action! The state’s democratic framework has been completely destroyed by declaring a state of emergency in Rivers. It has made fun of democracy as a whole.

“You suspended the governor and his deputy despite not having the authority to do so under the constitution.

For the next six months, the State House of Assembly will also be inactive? Hurry up, this is ridiculous. Not to mention the wastefulness of declaring a state of emergency on the government.

Naturally, tax payers’ money! Therefore, it is far less expensive to call Wike to order than to make this irrational State of Emergency declaration. Its severe harm to Rivers State’s democratic system is what hurts, even if we ignore the financial implications. It annoys me. They will need a considerable amount of time to bounce back from this failure.

Since it implies that all other governors should now anticipate that anything can happen to them at any point, it’s like creating a negative precedent.

The president has the power to suspend a governor after simply deciding one morning that he no longer likes the way he looks! Are we living in a nation like that?

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“This National Assembly is here! Voice voting—it’s insane! Yes, I am aware of their many bizarre activities, but this one really got to me. I was shaken.

It is daylight robbery to use a voice vote to decide 2/3, even if we are aware that they do many unimaginable things.

I was astonished and taken aback by their arrogance in doing this. What kind of behavior did a state with millions of eligible voters engage in?

Subsequently, they showed no concern about the repercussions of their actions. The element about voice voting that baffles me is how it determines two-thirds. It’s insane.