Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in 2023, Peter Obi, said Monday that Nigeria’s democracy is collapsing over the suspension of Rivers State Governor, Sim Fubara.
Obi spoke on Monday at the 60th birthday anniversary colloquium of the former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha.
The former Anambra governor lamented over the direction of the country’s democracy in the face of the state of emergency declared in Rivers State, which led to the suspension of the governor.
He had elsewhere accused the president of antidemocratic tendencies, arguing the situation in Rivers did not warrant such an extreme action.
The president’s action received wide condemnation, with many warning of the dire consequences of unilaterally suspending a democratically elected governor.
Obi went further on Monday while speaking during a panel discussion at the colloquium, recalling how the presidency attempted to intervene when the Anambra House of Assembly impeached him as governor.
The Anambra House of Assembly impeached Obi on November 2, 2006. The court reinstated him in February 2007 after he challenged the impeachment.
Obi revealed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was in attendance at the colloquium and was the president at the time of his impeachment, dispatched a delegation in an attempt to halt his impeachment.
While acknowledging the protective role late president Musa Yar’Adua played after the apex court restored him to power as governor, Obi lamented that Nigeria’s democracy, which has been progressing since 1999, is now being “knocked down” by the current administration.
“Some people came and knocked everything down. That is the situation we are in now. Everything has been knocked down. Nothing works,” he said.
“I became a governor through the court when President Obasanjo and Atiku were in government.
“I did not pay the court one naira. I was sitting in my office, and the court declared me the winner. It can’t happen in Nigeria today.
“When I was being impeached, the president sent people to come and intervene on my behalf. Ken Nnamani came, begging the house (house of assembly) not to impeach me.
“Today, the president (Tinubu) is impeaching a person (Fubara).
“They were in PDP; I was in APGA. The president was calling and saying, ‘Peter, are you okay? Even when I was impeached, President Obasanjo called and said, ‘Are you okay? Are you safe?
“When the court eventually declared me (the winner) under Andy Uba (as governor), President Yar’Adua called my phone in London and said, ‘Come back. I said, President, I can’t come back.
“When I came back, the military people came and received me at the airport. I couldn’t believe it. And he took me straight to him.
“Now, the president would ask me not to come back. Democracy is collapsing,” Obi said.
