An economist and one of the chieftains of the Labour Party, LP, Prof Pat Utomi has condemned the takeover of Rtd Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas as the Administrator of Rivers state.
This was contained in a post that he shared on his official X handle on Wednesday.
This is coming after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers state. According to VANGUARD, after the President declared the state of emergency, he suspended Rivers state governor, Siminalayi Fubara and nominated Ibokette Ibas to takeover.
The President was quoted as saying that;
“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”.
However, in a post that Pat Utomi shared on his page, he referred to the takeover of Rtd Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas as a coup d’etat.
He said it is tragic that those coming up with anti people’s polices today are those who challenged the same in the past.
Here is what Pat Utomi wrote on his official X handle;
“The people have a duty and a right to resist anybody who they did not vote for stepping into Government house and running their affairs. Such dictated takeover would be either banditry or a coup d’etat on the Rivers people”.