The Presidency has insisted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not remove but only suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and his deputy, Ngozi Odu.

The Special Assistant to Tinubu on Social Media, Olusegun Dada, made this known on Wednesday while reacting to former Anambra Governor, Peter Obi’s comment at the birthday colloquium of former Imo State Governor, Emeka Ihedioha.

Peter Obi, while reacting to the declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State by Tinubu, lamented that democracy under the present administration has collapsed.

Reacting, Dada described Peter Obi as a hypocrite and dangerously mischievous for crediting Obasanjo as the foundation layer of democracy.

According to him, democracy collapsed in Rivers when Fubara on 29th October, 2023 created an illegal 4-man state assembly and his private Speaker and later on demolished the parliament building unilaterally.

His statement read: “It is now a fact that Peter Obi only loves creating content of hypocrisy for his base and at the colloquium he didn’t disappoint as usual.

“Mr Obi said democracy under the Tinubu administration has collapsed simply because President Tinubu proclaimed a state of emergency in Rivers State to prevent further deterioration of the political crisis in the state that was already spilling onto the streets and endangering our national assets.

“Obi bizarrely credited Obasanjo as the foundation layer of democracy! What was his reason? That OBJ ‘saved’ him from impeachment.

“First, it appears Peter Obi cannot differentiate between IMPEACHMENT and SUSPENSION. Maybe I’ll have to take him through a brief tutorial:

– President Bola Tinubu did not remove or impeach any elected individual. The President invoked the constitutional power given to him in section 305 to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State.

– In the constitution, the essence of an emergency declaration is to tackle the cause of the emergency and also restore normalcy by deploying every possible means, which MUST be approved by the NASS.

– Both the Rivers Governor and the State Assembly are the actors leading to the creation of the emergency situation. This is why their suspension (AND NOT IMPEACHMENT) for a while became necessary. Fubara remains governor, although he’s currently not exercising the executive powers bestowed on him by the constitution. Same with the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.