Senator vows to mobilise senators against Rivers emergency rule
Former Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, on Wednesday, faulted President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, describing it as a ‘power grab.’
The senator representing Bayelsa West also vowed to mobilise his colleagues to ensure that the President does not get the needed support to validate his action.
Dickson disclosed this in an interview with selected journalists in Abuja.
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.”
His protest comes on the heels of failed attempts by the Senate to deliberate on a motion sponsored by the Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, on the Rivers State crisis.
The debate on the state of the emergency was eventually postponed till Thursday.
But Dickson insisted that they would work against the Senate approving the President’s declaration.
The former governor further urged Tinubu to learn the diplomacy and leadership style of former President Goodluck Jonathan when he declared emergency rule in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States without sacking the elected officials.
“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.
