Rivers: ‘The Sole Administrator, Ibas Is Strutting Around Port Harcourt, Dismantling Democratic Infrastructure’ – Udenta

The founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy, Udenta Udenta, has strongly criticized the administration of President Bola Tinubu, accusing it of dismantling democratic values, weaponizing the judiciary, and using the 1999 Constitution (as amended) against Nigerians.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday, Prof Udenta described the suspension of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, as a direct attack on democratic institutions by the Tinubu government.

Prof Udenta, a distinguished fellow at the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, expressed his concern that the current government is distorting the very system meant to protect democratic governance.

Naija News reports that he accused the administration of manipulating key institutions like the judiciary and state apparatus to shut down democratic conversations.

“The system that should protect democratic governance, you are weaponising them; the judiciary, the apparatus of the state, you are distorting, diluting and transmogrifying them in a way and manner that is shutting down democratic conversations,” he stated.

He emphasized that such actions were a reflection of the legacy left by the Bola Tinubu presidency and its political agents.

The professor explained that the erosion of democracy does not necessarily come from violent means such as gunfire, but from the misuse of the very instruments of democracy, such as the constitution and judiciary.

“When you abandon the foundational norms of democracy and then you begin to use instruments you acquired in power to dismantle the guardrails that govern the democratic system, then democracy dies,” he warned.

Prof Udenta further lamented that the deliberate manipulation of democratic structures by those in power was a far greater threat than physical violence.

“It is not by firing a shot that democracy dies or crumbles, it is leveraging the guardrails like the constitution, like what was done in Rivers State, to abort democratic rules,” he explained.

The scholar also criticized the actions of Rivers State Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd), accusing him of dismantling democratic principles with his suspension of all political appointees in the state. Prof Udenta described Ibas’s actions as a dangerous precedent for undermining democratic norms.

“You find the sole administrator strutting around Port Harcourt, dismantling democratic infrastructure,” he said, referring to the ongoing situation in the oil-rich state.

A Nation In Crisis: Poverty, Hunger, And Insecurity

Prof Udenta lamented the declining quality of life for Nigerians under the current administration, noting widespread hunger, poverty, and escalating food inflation. He expressed concern about the increasing insecurity and criminality across the country, emphasizing that the government appeared largely indifferent to the suffering of the people.

“There is poverty in the land, there is hunger everywhere, inflation is soaring, criminality and terrorism and all manners of insecurity pervade the nation, and the government is bemused like this current one,” he stated, highlighting the state of the nation under the current government.