Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, Wednesday defended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State,l.
Fagbemi said the decision was necessary to prevent a total collapse of governance in the oil-rich state.
He emphasised that the president had exhausted all diplomatic efforts before taking the extraordinary step.
“I think the President has acted timeously. He has given opportunity to all the parties involved to make amends. Before then, he had assembled them, he had tried to mediate,” Fagbemi said.
President Tinubu, in a national broadcast on Tuesday, had suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for an initial period of six months.
Citing prolonged political instability, constitutional breaches, and security threats, he invoked Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution to declare a state of emergency.
