AFRICAN DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS CONDEMNS TINUBU’S ACTIONS IN RIVERS AS “WHIMSICALLY AUTOCRATIC”

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned what it describes as the cavalier manner in which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu suspended and subsequently reinstated the elected Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party labeled the President’s action as “whimsically autocratic” and a threat to democracy.

The ADC expressed dismay at President Tinubu’s attempt to disguise political brinkmanship as statesmanship, concluding that his handling of the Rivers State situation would define his political legacy. The statement was issued in response to the President’s directive on Wednesday for the Governor, Deputy Governor, and members of the State Assembly to resume their duties after a six-month suspension.

“The President’s decision to arrogate himself the power to suspend and recall elected officials in Rivers State, as he had done, is whimsically autocratic and should be recognised and condemned as a threat to our democracy,” the statement read. The party asserted that the events in Rivers State over the past six months were a brazen manipulation of constitutional provisions to serve narrow political interests.

The ADC stated it harbors no doubts that the situation used as a pretext for the declaration of a state of emergency was a clear act of political contrivance. The party accused the President of choosing to serve the will of demagogues within his government instead of providing unbiased political intervention.

“For six long months, the will of the people of Rivers State was set aside. Their elected leaders were, in effect, put on suspension — not by a court of law, but by a President who himself was elected. Now, with the wave of a hand and the ink from his pen, the same President has decided to ‘allow’ other duly elected officials back to work, as though they were his political appointees,” the statement continued.

The party emphasized that governors and legislators derive their legitimacy from the people who elected them, not from the Presidency, and that only a competent court has the power to remove or restrain them. “The President is not a Headmaster, and Governors are not his pupils to be sent home and recalled at his discretion,” the ADC remarked.

The party concluded that the true goal of the President’s action was not to restore peace but to achieve a pacified government in Rivers State that understands its primary loyalty is to Abuja, not its people. The ADC further criticized presidential aides for claiming the President cut short his vacation to address the nation’s security situation, calling the claim “laughable.”

“The President did not return because Nigerians are being killed, or because life has become unbearable for the majority. He returned for one reason only — to personally oversee the return of Fubara to office and bask in the glory of the dictatorial powers that he had assumed for himself,” the statement alleged.

The ADC called on the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, to take a clear position on the matter, warning that silence would be recorded as collaboration in the subversion of democracy. “In moments like this, the judiciary cannot maintain silent indifference, or history will record them as collaborators in the subversion of our democracy,” the party stated.