By Adesina Soyooye
Senator Seriake Dickson, has explained why he walked out of the Senate just before it endorsed the State of Emergency declared in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu had declared a six-month State of Emergency in the State, suspended the Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, his Deputy, Dr. Ngozi Odu and Members of the House of Assembly. He then appointed a Sole Administrator, a former Chief Of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ibas.
Earlier, Dickson, former two-term Governor of Bayelsa State had a shouting match, almost, with Senate President Godswill Akpabio when he tried to shut down Dickson from speaking. Dickson had raised a point of order when he wanted to point out a procedural failure in the handling of the State of Emergency case in the Senate. But Akpabio wouldn’t let him. He tried to stop him, forcing Dickson to tell Akpabio that he respects the leadership of the Senator, but emphasized that respect is reciprocal. He also reminded Akpabio that both of them were former State Governors. At the end, Dickson had his way because he had a superior argument. After his presentation, the Senate went into a closed door session.
But according to Dickson who spoke after the closed door session, nothing went quite well. He said that there was no debate as to the constitutionality of the proclamation. He said he and a few other Senators were against the proclamation and the process adopted by the Senate to endorse it. When, therefore, it was time to present the report, he preferred walking out to staying and watching what he vigorously spoke against approved.
Dickson: “Today (Thursday), at the sitting of the Senate, the issue of the President’s proclamation of a state of emergency in Rivers State came up for discussion and as I have stated repeatedly, I raised my objections in the closed session on how the declaration fell short of constitutional prescription, based on my view as a Democrat, sworn to uphold the Nigerian constitution.
“The Senate did not undertake the debate in an open session. However, it was quite robust. I want to thank Sen. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal for his strong support of the unconstitutionality of the declaration, especially the aspect that deals with the suspension of the elected officials of the Rivers State government.
“At the end of the day, majority of the Senators supported the proclamation as no room was given for an open debate at plenary. I left the plenary before the Senate President was directed to report the outcome because I didn’t want to be present while what I opposed is being reported. I believe Senator Tambuwal, Senator Abaribe and others equally left too.
“I want to make it clear that as I stated repeatedly, I spoke and voted against the proclamation in our closed session, supported by Senator Aminu Tambuwal and a few other Senators who were not recognized to speak.
“And so I want to thank all the Senators who shared the view that I vigorously canvassed.
“I am, however, aware of the efforts made to modify the declaration as a result of the concerns and views we have expressed and canvassed the past few days.
“Though I acknowledge the effort being made by the leadership and President to moderate the terms of the declaration and to create a mechanism for oversight, theoretically, this does not counter the primary issue of constitutionality.
“The beauty of democracy is such that the minority will have their say while the majority have their way.
“I would have wished for a more robust and open debate so that all views and opinions can be openly canvassed, as I requested, even at the closed session specifically and thereafter, the majority can have their way but as it is, both chambers have decided and the ball is now on the court of the other arms of government, especially the Judiciary, in the event of any challenge.”
President Tinubu has since thanked both Arms of the National Assembly for their patriotism in approving the steps he took in Rivers State.
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