Headline

Between The Devil and The Mediterranean; A Returned Migrant’s Journey

Published

6 years ago

March 29, 2019

Editor

By Sally Moske

Europe, here I come!

Jerry could finally see the end of his journey as he sat in an air-inflated boat, called a dinghy, sandwiched with 153 other hopeful migrants headed to Italy. They had come quite a distance, traveling through the desert under severe conditions. Every one of them had a story to tell, of harrowing experiences on the course of their voyage from Nigeria to Libya. Their dreams had come at a steep price, draining them of hard-earned cash, dignity and sanity. If hope were so easy to kill, they would have been robbed of that as well. But here they were, on the final leg of their passage to the land of their dreams.

This was no journey for the fainthearted. All 154 of them knew they could die in the Mediterranean. They had no life jackets, although each of them had paid smugglers N10, 000 to acquire one. They were left to their fate, conveyed by an unseaworthy dinghy that had only enough fuel to get them to their destination; a place they had never been before.

For Jerry, he had not a single kobo on him. Like the others with him, he believed that all he needed was to get into Italy and everything would be fine. He was a Nigerian, after all. If he could survive the harsh economic conditions back home, he could make it in Europe; but first, he needed to get there in one piece.

Hearts clutched, prayers whispered through parched lips, the migrants who were starved, gaunt and exhausted, looked forward to the end of their journey as the boat waded dangerously on the Mediterranean Sea.

“You look at the front, you’re not seeing anything,” Jerry recalls. “You look at the back and all you see is the sea. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life before.”

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Nigerians struggle to find themselves in Europe. Nigeria is a source, transit and destination country when it comes to human trafficking. The country chiefly adds to the $150m that is generated annually in trafficking profits between Africa and Europe. The latest Global Slavery Index (2018) Report places Nigeria as 32/167 of the countries with the highest number of slaves. The staggering number comes to 1,386,000 already trafficked.

In 2018, Nigeria was ranked the world’s poorest country. With a high level of unemployment amongst the youth, bad governance, lack of faith from the citizens in the government, fallen levels of industrialization, civil unrests, constant conflicts and other social factors, the rate of irregular migration has skyrocketed in recent times. It is not hard to understand why Nigerians would seek greener pastures elsewhere.

Thousands of hopefuls journey to Libya via the ancient sub-Saharan slave route to make it to the Mediterranean. But for most of them, their final destination would be Libya. They would never get into Europe. The coastlines of Libya are almost impossible to police, making the country a major border state. There, Nigerians and other Africans hoping to make it to Europe are beaten, starved, robbed, raped and killed. For many of the returnees lucky to come back alive and whole, their story runs in similar lines. Their expectations were nothing close to reality. If they had known that the journey would lead them through hell, they would not have embarked on it in the first place.

Jerry was a struggling laundryman in Nigeria before he left. He had been seduced by a single photo shared by a friend on Facebook who lived in Germany. The life behind the camera had enticed him, and when he reached out to said friend, he was told that he could get a lot more money in Germany than what he earned in Nigeria from the same laundry business. He was also told that the journey would take two weeks, at the most, and he would begin to live a better life. Being that the words were coming from a trusted friend who was ‘making it’ in Europe, Jerry didn’t put much thought to his decision. He simply made up his mind to leave the country. He wouldn’t be the first to leave. Many had gone before him and were now successful.

He was sold an expensive dream that unraveled as a nightmare.

“I didn’t speak to anybody,” Jerry recollects. “I was scared because my friend had input that mindset in me that if I tell somebody, that person will now become somebody that is now blocking my way from traveling.”

Often, migrants are told not to speak to anyone about their plans to leave Nigeria. This warning is laced with heavy superstitious tones. They are painted the idea that someone out there might not want them to progress and could resort to diabolical means to stop their success. Many smugglers go as far as making the migrants swear oaths of secrecy in shrines. Fear of disclosing the details of their trip makes them easy prey for the smugglers and traffickers who would eventually trade them off to slave buyers in the course of their journey.

Jerry raised N300, 000 in six months, and with the assurance that he would be aided by his friend’s connections, he set off on his trip. But he was to receive the first blow from reality at the border in Sokoto, Nigeria. There, he was told by a smuggler that the initial payment he made had ‘entered a wrong connection’ and it couldn’t take him further. He was held in Niger until he paid an extra sum of N200, 000 to the smuggler. After the payment was processed, he embarked on a 17-hour journey that took him to Agadez, an ancient city at the southern edge of the Sahara.

At Agadez, he was told that he had to make an extra payment of 5000CFA that would lead him straight to Europe. By now, Jerry was beginning to see a pattern in the manner the smugglers lied. None of them was honest enough to state that each payment made would lead to the next stop. “Everybody will end their statement with ‘you’re going to Europe,’” he recalls.

Still, he was hopeful. He facilitated the transfer to a Nigerian bank account. Jerry was then pushed onto the back of a Hilux truck with 20 other travelers, each of them given sticks to hold onto, to prevent them from falling off. They traveled for six days, and at each stop, they would be asked to disembark to relieve themselves. Jerry described the desert as rather puzzling. During the day, the sand beneath their feet was cold while the sun above was scorching. At night, the conditions flipped, with the sand burning them underneath and the weather around them freezing them almost to death.

On the course of the journey, they drove past skeletons of migrants that had gone before them, possibly killed by rebels and bandits who had robbed them. Returnees would tell you that you’re at risk of bandits in the desert who would come out from nowhere and shoot at your truck. Drivers who survived would flee the scene and leave their passengers to their fate. If rescue did not come (which is a case that’s more often than not), migrants would have to rely on each other’s urine to fight dehydration. Most of them died there in the desert. For those who were unfortunate to fall off trucks similar to the one Jerry was in, the drivers abandoned them and continued on the trip.

At the border of Libya, following the 6-day journey, Jerry and his co-travelers were put on a truck conveying farm animals, and smuggled into Qatrun. They were dropped at a connection house where they had the chance to clean up for the first time since their journey began. From there, they were taken on a journey of 6 hours to Sabha, a southwestern city in Libya, and left in another connection house. But this stopover was different from the previous one. It was named the “Land of No Mercy.” Libya’s connection houses are typically owned by Libyans but partially managed by West Africans.

Migrants were held ransom and tortured until family members back home sent cash for their release. They were electrocuted, beaten with iron pipes and given 60 seconds to call family members who would rescue them. Those whose ransom fees were not paid ended up being tortured every day, for months, until they died or someone was gracious enough to sell them off. As slaves, they worked tirelessly to pay off debts to the ones who bought them. Some would be taken away, never to be seen again. It is believed that many who are traded in this manner have their organs harvested. For the women, they are raped brutally before being sold off to ‘madams’ who would make them sex slaves, forcing them to sleep with up to ten or more men a day.

At the connection house in Sabha, Jerry was told the same old story about his money expiring over a wrong connection, and was asked to get N300, 000 that would take him directly to Europe. He was given 48 hours to get the cash. Fortunate to have his sister who was the only one aware that he was on the trip, he reached out to her and she sent the money to a disclosed Nigerian bank account. Jerry watched migrants who couldn’t meet up with their payment suffer constant torture. In his words, “These people that are beating you are not foreigners. These people are our own beloved brothers… They are Nigerians.”

He explained that they wielded guns and shot to death anyone who tried to escape from the connection house. The walls were stained with the blood of murdered migrants. Many who have been there for months had lost their minds. They appeared deranged. Some had forgotten their names and where they came from. There had no access to medical care and hardly got any food.

Taken from the connection house in Sabha after paying the fee of N300, 000, Jerry found himself in Tripoli, the capital of Libya; but the journey to get there itself had been hazardous. He was transported in a Sienna bus, turned upside down through the course of a 9-hour trip.

“When we finally got to Tripoli and they offloaded us, they had to bring us down. Our eyes were turning, with blood filling our heads. They had to blow and pour water on us.”

Their passports were taken from them and sold to people who were just coming in. They were told that they didn’t need the passports in Europe since they were going to seek asylum there.

Their journey continued as they were taken to Sabratha, which lies on the Mediterranean coast. There, they stayed for three weeks and paid an extra N100, 000 to secure spaces in the air-inflated dinghy that would carry them off to the coast of Italian waters. From the distance, Jerry said he could see the enticing nightlights from Italy each evening. After his long, harrowing journey, he was elated at the prospect of finally making it into Europe. Thus, he waited, counting the days until he got into the unseaworthy dinghy with 153 others.

They embarked on the final leg of their journey with nothing but faith. Emaciated and exhausted, barely wearing nothing, and freezing to their bones, they prayed continuously as the dinghy carried them on. The nightlights of Italy they saw from the distance at Sabratha were now gone. It was all darkness around them. They were aware that anything could happen and they would drown, and their bodies would be lost at sea. Those on the sides of the dinghy could fall off, the ones in the center were at risk of chemical burns should the fuel leak from the engine and mix with water. Still, they held on. They had come this far. There was no turning back.

Suddenly, from the distance, lights from a naval boat appeared. Their breaths were bated as the vessel approached them. The people in the boat were men from the Libyan navy police, and they had not come to rescue them, but to extort them with threats of turning them back if they didn’t give them something in return. They asked for money and phones, and when the migrants told them they had nothing on them, they demanded to have the women in the dinghy. When that didn’t work as well, Jerry and his co-travelers were diverted back to Libya, bringing an end to their struggles and dreams to see Europe.

At the shore in Zuwara, they found washed-up bodies from another rescued boat that had only 27 survivors out of 157 migrants. Persons from Jerry’s dinghy were picked to bury the dead in shallow graves. Some of the corpses had their eyes and noses missing. Others had mangled body parts. It was a disturbing sight, but a turning point for Jerry. He saw himself as one of the dead, knowing how easily he could have drowned at sea and gotten buried in a shallow, unmarked grave with his family never seeing him again.

“That was what caught my fear. I just had to tell myself, I said, ‘I’m going home,’” Jerry says, shaking his head.

However, he was discouraged by fellow migrants when he announced that he had no desire to keep on with the journey. Some of them were taking that trip the third or fourth time. For Jerry, it would be his first and last attempt to leave Nigeria via illegal means. But the journey wasn’t over for him yet. He would spend nine more months in Libya, forced by the police into hard labor at other prisons, and to bury the corpses that were daily washed ashore.

According to a report by the United Nations, an average of 6 people die crossing the Mediterranean every day, asides accidents in which boats capsize and migrants drown.

Jerry was eventually rescued and brought home, alongside thousands of Nigerian migrants taken from various deportation camps in Libya. This massive deportation back to Nigeria was carried out by the International Organization for Migration, in conjunction with the Nigerian government.

These days, Jerry works with the Patriotic Citizens Initiative, actively enlightening people on the realities of irregular migration.

“We’re not saying migration is bad. No. Migration is good. But if you must go at all, what way are you passing? Who is giving you the information? How true is the information? Can you come out of it?”

Jerry is back to his laundry business, but with a heart of contentment, having escaped the devil and the deep blue sea. His Nigerian dream today is not to leave Nigeria, but to use what he has, and all he’s learned, to make the country better in his own way.

Headline

Tinubu’s Fatal Blow on Rivers State

Published

4 days ago

March 23, 2025

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

When in the 19th century, celebrated writer Lord Acton, made the oft-quoted statement that “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he had no reference to the Nigerian government of today, which has suddenly become a law unto itself, maneuvering and arrogating judicial precedents and justice system to suit its whimps and caprices.

Many has called it power intoxication while others declare it as judicial malady, but the fact remains that Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, had wielded a big stick, albeit unconstitutionally according to many high profile respondents, to deal a fatal blow on the elected representatives of the Rivers State government, and its legislative body.

Mr. President had on March 18, 2025, during a nationwide broadcast, and contrary to expectations, declared a state of emergency on the oil-rich state, going ahead to suspend the governor, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and the 31 elected members of the legislature. In the broadcast, the president stated that the emergency rule will last for an initial six months followed by a review which will determine either an extension of the rule or its termination. He also appointed Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas as the state’s Sole Administrator.

The president’s statement, which has been declared a fatal blow on democracy, and both unconstitutional and undemocratic, by a section of Nigerians, but a peace stroke by yet another section, has elicited reactions from the length and breadth of the nation majority of which borders on condemnations, rather than approval.

The sledgehammer reaction was a consequence of an 18 months fracas between between the Governor, Fubara, and his estranged godfather, Nyesom Wike, the immediate past governor of the state, and currently Tinubu’s minister, in charge of the Federal Capital Territory. Both has been locked in battle for the soul of the state treasury, as alleged by observers, and the party structure. The battle has brought both parties to their wits’ end where interventions from well meaning Nigerians, including Tinubu himself failed to assuage the grievances of each contending party. But Tinubu’s March 18th statement put a stop to all contentions, albeit at the moment

The statement reads in full:

Fellow Nigerians, I feel greatly disturbed at the turn we have come to regarding the political crisis in Rivers State. Like many of you, I have watched with concern the development with the hope that the parties involved would allow good sense to prevail at the soonest, but all that hope burned out without any solution to the crisis.

With the crisis persisting, there is no way democratic governance, which we have all fought and worked for over the years, can thrive in a way that will redound to the benefit of the good people of the state. The state has been at a standstill since the crisis started, with the good people of the state not being able to have access to the dividends of democracy.

Also, it is public knowledge that the Governor of Rivers State for unjustifiable reasons, demolished the House of Assembly of the state as far back as 13th December 2023 and has, up until now, fourteen (14) months after, not rebuilt same. I have made personal interventions between the contending parties for a peaceful resolution of the crisis, but my efforts have been largely ignored by the parties to the crisis. I am also aware that many well-meaning Nigerians, Leaders of thought and Patriotic groups have also intervened at various times with the best of intentions to resolve the matter, but all their efforts were also to no avail. Still, I thank them.

On February 28, 2025, the supreme court, in a judgment in respect of about eight consolidated appeals concerning the political crisis in Rivers State, based on several grave unconstitutional acts and disregard of rule of law that have been committed by the Governor of Rivers State as shown by the evidence before it pronounced in very clear terms:

“a government cannot be said to exist without one of the three arms that make up the government of a state under the 1999 Constitution as amended. In this case the head of the executive arm of the government has chosen to collapse the legislature to enable him to govern without the legislature as a despot. As it is there is no government in Rivers State.”

The above pronouncement came after a catalogue of judicial findings of constitutional breaches against the Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

Going Forward in their judgment, and having found and held that 27 members of the House who had allegedly defected

“are still valid members of Rivers State House of Assembly and cannot be prevented from participating in the proceedings of that House by the 8th Respondent (that is, the Governor) in cohorts with four members”

The Supreme Court then made some orders to restore the state to immediate constitutional democracy. These orders include the immediate passing of an Appropriation Bill by the Rivers State House of Assembly which up till now has not been facilitated.

Some militants had threatened fire and brimstone against their perceived enemy of the governor who has up till now NOT disowned them.

Apart from that both the House and the governor have not been able to work together.

Both of them do not realise that they are in office to work together for the peace and good governance of the state.

The latest security reports made available to me show that between yesterday and today there have been disturbing incidents of vandalization of pipelines by some militant without the governor taking any action to curtail them. I have, of course given stern order to the security agencies to ensure safety of lives of the good people of Rivers State and the oil pipelines.

With all these and many more, no good and responsible President will standby and allow the grave situation to continue without taking remedial steps prescribed by the Constitution to address the situation in the state, which no doubt requires extraordinary measures to restore good governance, peace, order and security.

In the circumstance, having soberly reflected on and evaluated the political situation in Rivers State and the Governor and Deputy Governor of Rivers State having failed to make a request to me as President to issue this proclamation as required by section 305(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it has become inevitably compelling for me to invoke the provision of section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State with effect from today, 18th March, 2025 and I so do.

By this declaration, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu and all elected members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State are hereby suspended for an initial period of six months.

In the meantime, I hereby nominate Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd) as Administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state in the interest of the good people of Rivers State. For the avoidance of doubt, this declaration does not affect the judicial arm of Rivers State, which shall continue to function in accordance with their constitutional mandate.

The Administrator will not make any new laws. He will, however, be free to formulate regulations as may be found necessary to do his job, but such regulations will need to be considered and approved by the Federal Executive Council and promulgated by the President for the state.

This declaration has been published in the Federal Gazette, a copy of which has been forwarded to the National Assembly in accordance with the Constitution. It is my fervent hope that this inevitable intervention will help to restore peace and order in Rivers State by awakening all the contenders to the constitutional imperatives binding on all political players in Rivers State in particular and Nigeria as a whole.

Long live a united, peaceful, secure and democratic Rivers State in particular and the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a whole.

But the reactions that followed the speech have fallen with the ranks of disdain and condemnation with the president’s loyalists stepping out to defend the ‘brazen’ declaration.

In his defence of Tinubu’s emergency rule, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, on his advice the emergency law came into effect said unequivocally that everything the president said in the statement is the fact, adding that the declaration saved Fubara, who he completely blamed for the crises in the state, from imminent impeachment. He exonerated the FCT Minister of any wrongdoing while alleging that Fubara teleguided militants, who he claimed blew up oil pipeline in the wake of an impeachment notice by the pro-Nyesom Wike House of Assembly. These men, 27 in number, led by Hon Martins Amaewhule, literally took instructions from the former governor.

BACKGROUND OF THE CRISES

The Vanguard reports that for fear of trading off his structure since all his opponents whom he drove to Abuja as governor, had returned, and were frolicking with Governor Fubara, Wike insisted on having all the commissioners and other key appointees nominated by him. He nominated 14 of the commissioners while mandating Fubara to nominate only one.

A source told The Vanguard that trouble heightened when Fubara forwarded two nominees to the House of Assembly with Rt. Hon Amaewhule as Speaker for screening. Wike was immediately informed and a war of words started.

The Commissioners, according to the source never “respected the governor”, to the extent the governor could not make approval exceeding N30million without “authorization from Abuja”.

Vanguard wrote, “Unbearably frustrated, Fubara told those who could listen to him that rather than tolerate such despicability, he would resign as governor. Several nocturnal meetings were held to save the embarrassing situation both in Nigeria and outside the country. It only went from bad to worse.

“The cloud of war became thickened when on October 29, 2023, the Dome edifice of the House of Assembly on Moscow road was riddled with dynamite. And the next day, October 30th the complex was mercilessly demolished on the allegation that it had some “structural defects”.

The governor, steadily gathering support across the state and the country, became more emboldened so that when he got wind of a possible impeachment process, he stormed the Assembly very early in the morning in pretense of supervising bulldozers. This stalled the activities of the Wike-lawmakers, and gained more grounds for Fubara. Wike was losing on a fast lane. And so to further frustrate Fubara’s government, he instigated his loyal commissioners to resign, and they did in droves, while Wike sought presidential/federal assistance, prompting Tinubu to broker a peace deal. The deal though signed by both gladiators, was later discovered to be lopsided, and counterproductive to Fubara, and favored Wike. It wasn’t long before the agreement was jettisoned, and the gladiators returned to the trenches, but it dawned on Fubara that he was surrounded by disloyal staff even as his cabinet of commissioners was depleted. So he withdrew Dr. Edison Ehie who by then had become the Speaker of the House of Assembly and made him his Chief of staff, thereby sealing the gap through which government sensitive information was leaked to Wike. Ehie was replaced as a speaker in the House by Rt. Hon Victor Oko-Jumbo with only three men to form a new House, as the 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike officially defected to the APC. The lawmakers in December, 2023, factional chairman of the APC, Chief Tony Okocha, Abdulkarim Kana the Legal adviser, and other national leaders of the APC officially received them at the Port Harcourt Polo Club. These situations were since denied by all those involved, and sadly supported by the Supreme Court.

At this time, it became the House of Assembly, string-pulled by Wike, against Fubara. While the 27 lawmakers continued to make laws against Fubara and his administration, Fubara only recognised and functioned with the 4-man legislature of Oko-Jumbo. This was until the Supreme Court presented its surprising verdict.

“That Supreme Court judgment look like what Wike and his cohorts wrote,” a Rivers stakeholder said.

But that was the beginning of additional crisis as the House gave the governor 48 hours to represent the 2025 budget. But the governor appeared later after the 48-hour ultimatum, but was locked out of the premises by the lawmakers. Then the forth and back continued, resulting in the House issuing a notice of impeachment after accusing the governor of gross misconduct.

Then Tinubu struck – suspended the elected gladiators in a state of emergency broadcast, but sparing Wike, who was exonerated.

NASS ENDORSES TINUBU’S EMERGENCY RULE DECLARATION

But contrary to expectations, the Senator Godswill Akpabio and Hon Tajudeen Abass-led National Assembly hurriedly endorsed the declaration via a voice vote. This, according to stakeholders, is contrary to constitutional provisions, where two-third majority votes are required to approve the emergency rule.

“These people just took Nigerians for a ride. Why voice vote? Is that the constitutional provision?” A concerned citizen queried.

Nigerians have insinuated that that Senators were induced with $15,000 while members of the House Representatives received $5000 to lend support to the unpopular declaration. The National Assembly has since denied the allegations.

But the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) in its reaction, among many reactions, said in part, “Instead of safeguarding democracy and the rule of law, the National Assembly has chosen to passively endorse an unconstitutional overreach of executive power, thereby weakening the checks and balances that are essential to our democratic system. The decision to do this via voice vote, when section 305 (6)(b) of the Constitution clearly requires that the proclamation of a State of Emergency by the President must be supported by two-thirds majority of all the members of each House of the National Assembly, is a travesty and flies in the face of constitutionality, legality and good reasoning.”

WELL MEANING NIGERIANS KICK

Following the emergency rule declaration, Nigerians from all walks of life have risen in unison to condemn the act, describing it as a brazen show of power.

Among the early individuals to called to question Tinubu’s emergency rule declaration were a former Vice President and presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, former Governor of Anambra State, and former Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, former President Goodluck Jonathan, Prof Wole Soyinka, Dele Farotimi, Chief Dele Momodu among others. They described the effort as political manipulation, where the president stylishly seeks the corner the resources of Rivers State for personal aggrandizement, and in view of the 2027 general election.

Also, a coalition of civil society organisations in Nigeria condemned the declaration of emergency, describing it as a threat to democracy and an unjustifiable overreach of executive power.

Speaking at a press briefing in Port Harcourt, Christian Onyegbule, representative of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), read the coalition’s statement, rejecting the emergency rule and demanding its immediate reversal.

As at today, Tinubu’s declaration has the force of law as the National Assembly has given approval, and have it in Gazette, though many organisations including SERAP has gone to court to seek a reversal and maybe a punishment for the president for overreaching the Constitution.

“The Supreme Court cannot do less than they did at the Election Petitions trial or at the Rivers State judgment. The truth is Tinubu’s blow has come to stay, and may be unleashed on more states in the near future. Osun State, where his nephew, Gboyega Oyetola, is having a running battle with Governor Ademola Adeleke, may be the next in the line of target.

Headline

Tambuwal, Abaribe Joined Me to Oppose Tinubu’s Emergency Declaration – Dickson

Published

7 days ago

March 21, 2025

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The senator representing Bayelsa West Senatorial District, Seriake Dickson, has named Senators Aminu Tambuwal and Enyinnaya Abaribe among a few others, who stood with him to oppose the unconstitutionality of the suspension of the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and the members of the House of Assembly.

The senator, in a statement, also revealed the reasons he walked out of the red chamber on Thursday following a heated argument regarding the approval of the State of Emergency in Rivers State.

In the statement, Dickson, who already told as many that cares to listen before the sitting that he will never support the emergency rule on the floor of the senate, met a brick wall in the visibly angry senate president, Godswill Akpabio, who he claimed tried to deny him his freedom to express himself, resulting in the heated argument that ensued.

The senator noted that when it was obvious that the red chamber was bent on validating the President’s emergency rule, he staged a walkout from the senate, saying he wouldn’t want to be present when the report of what he opposed is read.

Dickson’s detailed analysis of what transpired is presented below:

SENATOR SERIAKE DICKSON GIVES DETAILED UPDATE ON WHAT TRANSPIRED TODAY

Today at the sitting of the Senate, the issue of the President’s proclamation of a state of emergency in Rivers State came up for discussion and as I have stated repeatedly, I raised my objections in the closed session on how the declaration fell short of constitutional prescription, based on my view as a Democrat, sworn to uphold the Nigerian constitution.

The Senate did not undertake the debate in an open session however, it was quite robust. I want to thank Sen. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal for his strong support of the unconstitutionality of the declaration, especially the aspect that deals with the suspension of the elected officials of the Rivers State government.

At the end of the day, majority of the senators supported the proclamation as no room was given for an open debate at plenary. I left the plenary before the Senate President was directed to report the outcome because I didn’t want to be present while what I opposed is being reported. I believe Senator Tambuwal, Senator Abaribe and others equally left too.

I want to make it clear that as I stated repeatedly, I spoke and voted against the proclamation in our closed session, supported by Senator Aminu Tambuwal and a few other senators who were not recognized to speak.

And so I want to thank all the senators who shared the view that I vigorously canvassed.

I am however aware of the efforts made to modify the declaration as a result of the concerns and views we have expressed and canvassed the past few days. Though I acknowledge the effort being made by the leadership and President to moderate the terms of the declaration and to create a mechanism for oversight, theoretically this does not counter the primary issue of constitutionality.

The beauty of democracy is such that the minority will have their say while the majority their way. I would have wished for a more robust and open debate so that all views and opinions can be openly canvassed as I requested even at the closed session specifically and thereafter, the majority can have their way but as it is, both chambers have decided and the ball is now on the court of the other arms of government, especially the judiciary, in the event of any challenge.

My attention has also been drawn to a viral video showing parts of the unfortunate exchanges between the Senate President and I before we desolved to the closed session.

As I said on the floor, the Senate President was very unfair to me by trying to censor my freedom of expression and by deliberately misrepresenting the import of what I said in the broadcast yesterday which was the same thing I said on the floor today. It is my opposition in principle to the declaration of a state of emergency, as well as the suspension of elected officials.

I thank all those who have called to commend my composure under unnecessary and unexpected attempt at intimidation. Everyone, including the Senate President, knows I have long gone beyond that stage in my life.

The Senate as I said is a meeting of equals and everyone should be respected just as we accord respect to the Chair. No senator needs the permission of the senate president to express an opinion in an interview on a topical matter of national interest that is in the public domain.

I intend to meet the Senate President to formally express my displeasure, to prevent a reoccurrence.

I thank my constituents, Nigerians and all people of goodwill who have called to express solidarity and urge them not to be dismayed at the direction our democracy appears to have taken.

For someone like me who has been in trenches over the years, all these challenges are actually a call to duty and I therefore implore all people of goodwill to come together and ensure that participatory democracy is promoted in our country.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Rivers State.”

President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, declared a state of emergency in Rivers, sacking all elected officers, and appointing a Sole Administrator, in the person retired former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, for an initial period of six months.

Headline

For Condemning Tinubu’s Emergency Rule in Rivers, Presidency Dismisses Atiku, Peter Obi, Amaechi, Others As Disgruntled Politicians

Published

7 days ago

March 21, 2025

Eric

The Presidency, on Thursday, described former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Anambra State governor and 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, the former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and the former governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi as disgruntled politicians that don’t have the interest of the masses at heart.

Reacting to the recent regrouping of some politicians including the former governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, who reportedly formed a coalition against President Bola Tinubu in 2027, the Presidency described them as “a frustrated lot”.”

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said President Tinubu is focused on governance to build a prosperous country.

According to him: “He (Tinubu) is on the way to achieving this. Two months to his midterm, he has many solid achievements to showcase. Intractable problems are being tackled headlong.

“He cannot be distracted by the so-called coalition of politicians. They are not politicians after the public Good. It’s all about their self-interest.

“They are disgruntled. They are a frustrated lot. The leaders are sore losers. The coalition is an amalgam of Tinubu haters. Their agenda is to stop Tinubu.”