Former Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, now a senator, criticized President Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, labeling it a “power grab.”
He pledged to rally his fellow senators to block the necessary support for the declaration’s validation.
Dickson made these remarks in an interview with journalists in Abuja.
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He 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.”
Dickson’s protest follows the Senate’s repeated delays in debating a motion regarding the Rivers State crisis, sponsored by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele.
Despite the debate being rescheduled for Thursday, Dickson vowed to oppose the Senate’s approval of the President’s declaration.
He urged President Tinubu to emulate former President Goodluck Jonathan’s approach to declaring emergency rule in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe States, which involved maintaining elected officials in their positions.
“We have precedence when because of Boko Haram, President Jonathan had to consider a state of emergency. I was one of those privileged to be in some of those inner meetings. There will always be people who will say, ‘Oh, this is an opportunity. Let us sack them and take over the state.’
“But Jonathan understood what it means to pull back and be the president for all. The Attorney General gave a clear interpretation at that time that we should not remove the elected officials. So a state of emergency was declared in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. But the governors and the assemblies were kept in place.
“In other words, the state of emergency is intended to reinforce the existing government structure, not to subvert or replace it. That is the intention of the Constitution. That is how you show democratic temper in a multi-party democracy,” he argued.
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