Posted by Samuel on Sat 29th Mar, 2025 - tori.ng
According to him, Rivers State is like the ‘oxygen’ of the country, and no leader would want to wait for the burn down before acting.
Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, has defended the decision of his principal, President Bola Tinubu, who declared a state of emergency in Rivers State.
Tinubu, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, suspending the governor, Sim Fubara, his deputy and all the members of the House of Assembly over the political crisis rocking the oil-rich state.
He appointed a retired naval chief, Ibok-Ete Ibas, as the state’s sole administrator.
In an interview with ARISE Television on ‘Prime Time’, Onanuga asserted that Nigerians often respond to issues without conscious thought or reflection.
The presidential aide stated that if Tinubu had not declared a state of emergency, Fubara would have been impeached by the state House of Assembly, causing bloodshed.
According to him, Rivers State is like the ‘oxygen’ of the country, and no leader would want to wait for the burn down before acting.
He said, “Sometimes, Nigerians respond to issues knee-jerk; it is not an insult but the reality in our country. Things happen, people follow whoever speaks first without sitting down and reflecting on the issue if it is really bad. Look at Rivers if President Bola Tinubu had not intervened in Rivers perpharps things would have been worst by now.
“The Legislature was saying that were going to impeach the governor, Fubara was saying he was going to bring the budget to them and all other things were happening and the state was alreading tilttering to some form of crisis. If the House of Assembly had been allowed to impeach the governor, maybe Rivers would have been a state flowing in blood. The day this emergency was imposed, there attacks on our pipelines.
“Rivers State habours our oil resources, oil and gas. The state is like the oxygen of this country. Most of our money is from that state that why no leader would want to wait for the state to burn down before acting. So the President had to step in to avert any further crisis or unforeseen crisis. Nigerians should get the word, the President suspended and did not remove and it for the good of the country.”