Pat Utomi, a Nigerian professor of political economy and management expert, has described the endorsement of a state of emergency in Rivers State by the National Assembly (NASS) on Thursday as a tragedy, saying that it has made a mess of the democracy many Nigerians fought for.
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in Rivers State on Wednesday, attributing it to threat to security due to the crisis between the executive and the state house of assembly.
Utomi, who spoke as guest on Channel Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, stated that the endorsement is a scam on the Nigerian people, and could affect the future of the country.
“How could they do this to us after all these years? The National Assembly has made our democracy a huge joke, what a tragedy for a country.
“The Senate President called for a voice vote and everybody said ‘Ai,’ the whole thing is a scam on the Nigerian people.
“Last year, the Nobel prize for economics went to three gentlemen, and on the day it was announced, one of them was interviewed on a global network and he said that what it takes to develop for a country is now well-known, but some countries like Nigeria chose not to do those things.
“One of the things that make for progress in all of humanity based on consensus from economics and experts is the roles of institutions and everyday, very badly, I watch the Nigerian political class demolishing Nigerian institutions,” he said.
Speaking further, Professor Utomi said that while the decision might give the political class one moment of victory, they have destroyed the future of their children.
He emphasised that the Nigerian political class has destroyed the judiciary, adding that the National Assembly does not constitute another realm that has oversight, check or balance to the other, but that it is just a complete joke.
He said: “The world laughs at us and it’s a tragedy that we are where we are. What is the problem in Rivers State that warrants a state of emergency?
“Why did the President not declare a state of emergency in Lagos State when the assembly was being tossed back and forth? Why Rivers?
“When we are talking about fairness, equity and pure decency, I don’t see these here and I think it’s a shame that they want to rubbish the democracy that we all worked so hard for.
“Obaseki and Edo State took very similar circumstances and there is nothing Siminalayi Fubara did in Port Harcourt that former governor Godwin Obaseki did not do. So, why was a state of emergency not declared in Edo State?
“It was a state of two fighting, who are these two that are fighting and over what are they fighting and why do a whole people have to bear the brunt of these outright egos who are disturbing the peace of all for whatever they claim they are fighting, which is not in our constitution.”
He stressed that the Nigerian constitution does not know anything about fathers or godfathers, saying that it was a case of one man sitting in judgment and making pronouncements, adding that “that’s a tragedy for our country, it’s a tragedy.”
