The National Secretary of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), Peter Ameh, has expressed disappointment in the suspended Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, over his handling of the recent local government elections in the state.
Speaking on Channels Television breakfast show, ‘Sunrise Daily’ on Monday, Ameh accused Fubara of surrendering to federal pressure rather than standing firm in defense of democracy and constitutionalism.
“For me, I am already disappointed in Fubara that he has shown that what he wants is to get back to office. I think he should have given it his all and even if any loss comes to him, it would not have been bad to fight for the future generations. I think he was beaten to surrender and that is not good for our democracy,” Ameh said.
He alleged that federal instruments of power were deployed against the embattled Rivers State governor, a move he described as a deliberate attempt to undermine Nigeria’s democracy.
“The state has been captured because if you look at the present situation leading up to this election, it is a question of how many states can I control, that is the struggle,” the CUPP scribe stated.
Ameh further criticised the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, for failing to address constitutional questions surrounding the crisis in Rivers State.
“Section 305 gives the power to call for a state of emergency, but it never gives any other power to remove the governor and the state House of Assembly. The case is before the Supreme Court and the Court has refused to hear it, waiting for the 6 months to elapse. If they take the case and decide in favour of the people, it will affect the interest of the president; if they take the decision in the interest of the president, it will damage our constitution. So they decided to abstain and allow this illegality, this unconstitutionality, this authoritarian application of instruments unknown to democracy to prevail,” Ameh argued.
He stressed that Governor Fubara still enjoys immunity under Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution, questioning why constitutional provisions were being undermined.
“It is clear that this is a state capture, it is undermining our democratic process, it is insulting to our collective sensibility and reasoning to see that people can sit down and say, ‘the emergency can be lifted now, local government election has been conducted,’” Ameh added.
Ameh insisted that Nigeria’s democratic experiment must be nurtured and defended, warning that silence or surrender in the face of constitutional violations would only embolden authoritarian tendencies.
“This democracy that we have gotten, whether it is semi-democracy, we must be able to nurture it to become a full democratic system,” he concluded.
