The leadership of the All-Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers state, led by its chairman, Tony Okocha, have called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the state, claiming there is full blown war in the state.
The call was made at a press conference in the state capital, in response to the political crisis currently rocking the state. Okocha who alleged that rivers state is at war, said the dramatis persona who are responsible for the mayhem that has claimed lives are known.
He noted that the governor and the police are helpless, in the face of the crisis, hence the need for the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the state in order to tame what he described as the mayhem and upsurge in violence in the state.
“Rivers State is at war, the Governor is helpless, the police are helpless. Therefore, the APC in Rivers State is calling for a state of emergency in Rivers State as a way of taming the mayhem, the upsurge that is going on in the state,” Okocha said.
On the newly sworn-in caretaker committee chairmen by the state governor, the APC leader said, “the Local Government Law No. 2, 2024, has already outlawed the use of caretaker committee chairmen, so if by tomorrow, Thursday, June 20, 2024, the court gives its ruling in favour of the chairmen, are we going to have two chairmen in each local government?”
On his part, the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, defended his action, saying “The law on local government tenure is unambiguous. The court clearly affirmed the position of the law. The law is the law, there is no extension of the local government tenure in it. The court said so.”
