By Farooq Kperogi
I just stumbled on a story in The Cable this morning claiming that President Bola Tinubu’s henchmen in the Senate and House are struggling to gather enough votes to rubber-stamp his unconstitutional suspension of democracy in Rivers State and installation of a retired military officer as sole administrator.
Frankly, it’s hard to believe. Most of our legislators have a reputation for having price tags attached rather openly to their principles, or what’s left of them.
Yet, if by some miracle this story checks out, I’ll gladly eat my skepticism. It might mean that amid Nigeria’s ocean of opportunists, there’s still a handful willing to occasionally pretend they have backbones.
Yes, the constitution indeed allows Tinubu to declare a state of emergency, but nowhere does it grant him the authority to suspend elected governors, deputies, or legislators.
The idea of installing a “sole administrator” is a ghostly relic of Nigeria’s dark era of military absolutism.
Remember, former President Obasanjo pulled this stunt in Ekiti in 2006, not because the state burned uncontrollably, like Plateau State in 2004, but simply because he didn’t like the governor. So, he accused of corruption, which became the basis for his unconstitutional ouster.
Of course, irony had a good laugh, given Obasanjo himself was swimming in allegations of corruption while citing corruption as his reason for undermining democracy.
Goodluck Jonathan, on the other hand, declared states of emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa because of the escalation of Boko Haram insurgency. But he did so without demolishing elected institutions.
Tinubu, a man who built his political career on the perception of battling military tyranny, now bizarrely aspires to mimic Obasanjo, the very authoritarian he once vehemently condemned.
Is irony on vacation or is hypocrisy now Tinubu’s political philosophy?
If we permit Tinubu to establish this precedent, democracy in Nigeria becomes a sitting duck.
Any future president with a grudge or craving for unchecked power can manufacture a crisis at will, dismantle elected institutions, and impose obedient lackeys as “sole administrators” to rule states by decree.
That’s not democracy; that’s dictatorship on drip-feed.
