Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Oba Maduabuchi, has faulted the six-month state of emergency earlier declared in Rivers State, insisting that the move was unnecessary.

Speaking on Prime Time, an Arise Television programme, Maduabuchi said Rivers was never ungovernable as claimed. According to him, if the state was truly in chaos, elections would not have been conducted. He described the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and lawmakers as “laughable” and a denial of democracy.

The lawyer added that President Bola Tinubu’s action was unconstitutional, stressing that governance should never have been put on hold. He said Nigerians are only relieved now because the suspension has been lifted, but the damage to democracy was already done.

Maduabuchi further argued that the proper solution was for the courts to decide whether 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly had indeed defected. He explained that the Constitution already provides steps to follow when lawmakers decamp, and in such a case, the National Assembly should take over the state’s legislative functions. He concluded that if the defected lawmakers were still valid members, Governor Fubara would have had no choice but to work with them.