APC chieftain wants state of emergency declared in Rivers ahead of election

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Ibrahim Emokpaire has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in Rivers ahead of the elections.

The Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections have been scheduled for March 9.

Emokpaire made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

The APC chieftain said the call had become necessary following the insecurity and killings that characterised the Feb. 23, Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.

Emokpaire, a former APC National Chairmanship aspirant, particularly condemned the killing of soldiers in the state.

He noted that this was not the first time soldiers and other security agents would be killed in Rivers.

According to him, there wi no justifiable reason for soldiers and even ordinary citizens to be killed no matter the provocation.

“There is no country in the whole world where military personnel will be mowed down and the Commande-In-Chief will take it lightly with perpetrators of such heinous crime,’’ Emokpaire said.

He said that irrespective of the immunity of Rivers State Governor Nysome Wike, the Federal Government should declare a state of emergency in the state.

This, he said was critical to deter others who think they could kill soldiers and other citizens and get away with it or without consequences.

“The men in uniform that are protecting the country cannot just be mowed down without consequences. These are people that have committed their lives to protecting Nigerians.

“Nobody, however, highly placed either with immunity or no immunity from any part of the country has the right to kill soldiers without consequences,’’ he said.

He, therefore, tasked relevant agencies to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators of such killings.


Emokpaire said that such action must have consequences, saying “we cannot take anything for granted, we cannot turn everything upside down in the name of democracy.’’

He noted that even in the United States of America, with the largest democratic process in the world, would not tolerate one of its soldiers being killed by anybody.

“Even when a soldier was attacked and killed by a terrorist on a street in London, the perpetrator was apprehended immediately.

“Everybody connected with the crime and the perpetrator was apprehended and locked up for interrogation, the house of the terrorist was shut down completely,’’ Emokpaire recalled.

NAN reports that Rivers had become the most volatile state in Nigeria since after the Feb. 23, Presidential and National Assembly elections as residents of some communities in the state are beginning to leave their original aboard to seek safety elsewhere.