IPOB Lawyer Ejiofor Blasts Tinubu For Turning Nigeria’s Democracy Into ‘Democrazy’ To Protect Wike’s Grip On Rivers State
By Passman Akpos
Ejiofor said the crisis rocking Rivers State has exposed “executive adventurism” at the highest levels of government.
Human rights lawyer and counsel for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Barrister Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has said that President Bola Tinubu has reduced Nigeria’s democracy to what he described as “democrazy” following the suspension of democratic structures in Rivers State.
In a statement issued on Friday, Ejiofor said the crisis rocking Rivers State has exposed “executive adventurism” at the highest levels of government.
He warned that turning the state’s political mandate into a bargaining chip for internal party control could plunge the country into further instability.
“Democracy, it is often said, is fragile. In Nigeria, however, it has become so sugar-coated with executive fiat that one is left wondering whether we are still practising democracy or merely acting out a cleverly disguised democrazy,” Ejiofor stated.
Ejiofor recalled that six months ago, President Tinubu suspended existing democratic institutions in Rivers State in what was presented as a measure to restore order.
However, he argued that the decision was legally questionable and politically motivated.
“Why else would an entire democratic structure be suspended if not to buy (Nyesom) Wike (Minister of the Federal Capital Territory) time to consolidate his grip through hurried local government elections and unfettered access to federal allocations?” Ejiofor asked.
He likened the move to the controversial events in Plateau State, noting that Nigeria has a troubling history of “executive experiments” undermining constitutional rule.
Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, Rivers State has been a theatre of political battles involving figures like Dr. Peter Odili, Rotimi Amaechi, and former governor Nyesom Wike, now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Ejiofor highlighted how Wike, who he said once “anointed himself the Emperor of Port Harcourt,” sought to maintain dominance by installing his protégé, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, after leaving office in 2023.
But the alliance quickly collapsed, triggering a wave of defections, impeachment threats, factional legislative sittings, and violent clashes.
The lawyer pointed to the spectacle of a “governor weeping on national television” as emblematic of the deepening crisis, which later escalated into violent confrontations between pro-Wike local government chairmen and Fubara’s supporters.
Ejiofor noted that President Tinubu’s intervention was less about restoring peace and more about protecting Wike’s influence within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“President Tinubu, whose intervention, couched in the language of restoring order, appeared to many discerning observers less about peace in Rivers and more about preserving Wike’s bargaining power within the ruling party,” Ejiofor stated.
“The Rivers saga is less about governance and more about control, who controls the council chairmen, who controls the allocations, who controls the political structures. And in Nigeria, control often matters far more than the constitution,” he said.
Ejiofor warned that such selective enforcement of democratic rules undermines the very foundation of constitutional democracy.
The lawyer cautioned that the suspension of democratic institutions may only be the first act in Rivers’ unfolding drama, suggesting that another crisis could force yet another declaration of emergency.
“For those naïve enough to believe this six-month ‘suspension’ marks the end of Rivers’ political drama, let me be clear: the first act is over, but the second is about to begin,” he declared.
“Make no mistake: Nigerians are watching. The world is watching. Most importantly, the people of Rivers, whose destiny has been tossed about like pawns on a chessboard, are watching too.
“And the lesson of history is unmistakable: political experiments that trample on democratic institutions may stagger for a while, but they never endure,” he added.
He warned that political experiments that trample on democratic institutions are unsustainable.—“Sugar-coated democracy, once unwrapped, is often bitter. What Rivers is experiencing today is not democracy but its grotesque distortion, an elaborate performance of democrazy,” Ejiofor stated.
“And if history is any guide, it is only a matter of time before the curtain falls, and those who toyed with the people’s mandate reap the whirlwind they have sown,” he added.
