President Bola Tinubu will lift the state of emergency in Rivers State as soon as normalcy is restored, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has assured.
The Minister gave this assurance in an interview with The Nation said “As soon as he assesses that sanity has returned to Rivers State, he will ensure the restoration of all democratic structures in that state,” he added.
Idris assured that Tinubu remains committed to ensuring Rivers State returns to full democratic governance as soon as possible.
“The President will not wait a minute longer than necessary,” he said.
Idris defended the President’s decision, describing it as “a very responsible but very painful” action taken in line with constitutional provisions. He emphasised that Tinubu had no intention of taking over the governance of the state or appointing a Governor.
“The President has no intention whatsoever to take over the governance of Rivers State. He has no intention to be or to appoint a governor for Rivers State,” he said.
According to him, governance in Rivers State had completely broken down with the Assembly non-functional and the executive arm facing serious challenges.
“The way democracy is designed in this country is that the three arms of government must work together, and one will be checking the other.
“So, we cannot have just the executive functioning and say we have a functional democracy. We didn’t have that, and therefore, the President had to act,” he explained.
The Minister maintained that the President acted within his constitutional powers to prevent the state from descending further into violence and lawlessness.
According to him: “Those who designed our constitution envisaged that this kind of situation could arise, and that was why they made the provision for it. The President relied on the constitution to exercise his powers and take action.”
