Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, says the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers state was necessary to ensure local governments (LGs) could legally access allocations from the federation account.
Speaking during a media parley in Abuja on Monday, Wike defended President Bola Tinubu’s decision to invoke emergency powers following the expiration of the tenure of elected LG chairmen in Rivers.
“People say the declaration of emergency was illegal — how many of them have pursued the matter in court till today?” Wike asked. “Filing a matter just for people to say we’ve filed does not mean they actually want to pursue it. It’s all for show.”
Wike, a former governor of Rivers, said it was his legal team that secured a Supreme Court ruling affirming that emergency rule could override certain legal provisions.
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According to him, the apex court had ruled that governors could not appoint caretaker committees, and that where there were no elected local governments, those councils could not access funds from the federation account.
“Because of the emergency rule, that judgment was set aside to allow local governments access to funds, and that’s why sole administrators were appointed in the councils,” he explained.
He said Tinubu acted based on the Emergency Powers Act, which was modified by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004, to issue regulations enabling the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to conduct LG elections within 90 days.
“If you don’t do that election now, when a governor comes in, he’ll have to give one year’s notice. The Supreme Court says once that notice is given, you cannot appoint a caretaker committee, and without elected councils, you can’t access the federation account,” Wike said.
He added that the president has no intention of extending the emergency rule beyond the election timeline, saying the goal is to prevent a governance vacuum at the grassroots.
Wike also took a jab at former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, criticising his recent defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
