Nigeria declares state of emergency in Rivers State amid political crisis

Nigeria is facing an escalating political crisis after President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the oil-rich Rivers state and suspended the governor, his deputy and all lawmakers in the state parliament for six months.

In a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday evening Tinubu said he had received “disturbing security reports detailing incidents of vandalisation of pipelines by some militants without the governor taking any action to curtail them”.

The President added that he could not allow the “grave situation” to continue, the BBC reports.

Lawyers and opposition politicians were, however, questioning the legality of the president’s decision.

Tinubu made the announcement after one of the country’s highest producing crude oil pipelines, the Trans-Niger Pipeline, suffered significant damage due to a blast.

Attacks on pipelines had in the past been carried out by criminal gangs or militants, halting production and exports.

At current prices, the oil flowing through the affected pipeline fetches around $14m (£11m) a day, according to the online publication Africa Report.

But against the backdrop of the blast, there had been a political rift in Rivers state that has reached boiling point.

Governor Siminalayi Fubara is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which had been plagued by reports of in-fighting. At a national level, the PDP is the main party opposed to the president’s All Progressives Congress.

Tinubu said that politicians had not been able to work together effectively because of the ongoing turmoil, alleging that allies of Fubara had threatened “fire and brimstone” against the governor’s enemies and that had had not “disowned” these comments.

Rivers state lawmakers had threatened to impeach the governor and his deputy, according to Reuters news agency.

Tinubu said this political crisis had left Rivers state at a “standstill” adding that this latest measure is based on the need to restore peace and order to the state.

The state of emergency will allow the government to run the state in the interim and send security forces if needed.

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