Former Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has accused President Bola Tinubu’ of power grabbing through his declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State.
The senator representing Bayelsa West also vowed to mobilise his colleagues to ensure that Tinubu was never given the National Assembly approval needed to validate his action in Rivers.
Dickson said, “It is unconstitutional. Most people see this as a power grab. Is there a constitutional provision mandating the president to declare a state of emergency?
“Yes, but you’ve got to scrutinise it and see whether it comes under that general provision. Even when you come to that conclusion, does that justify the removal of elected officials? No!
“You can’t talk about anything emergency unless you have a minimum of 73 senators sitting and 240 members of the House of Representatives present. And you must do that in two days. Otherwise, everything goes back to square one. So you see, I don’t know the kind of advice the President has.
“I’m not in a position to speculate about the numbers. The leadership knows best, but mine is to be available and network with my colleagues.
“Those of us who don’t believe in it are quite large in number. I am talking about senior ranking members who, in the protection of democratic rights created by the constitution, will say no to it.”
Also, the lawmaker representing Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency of Imo State, Ikenga Ugochinyere at the National Assembly, said what Tinubu did in Rivers as handing over the state to the military.
He said, “The governor should head to the courts. I am not going to speak for him, but some of us believe this should also be tested in court; it should also be resisted. Even with a gun to my head, I will not vote in support of that. Where does this leave us as lawmakers?”
