The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, on Wednesday, alleged that Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State tele-guided militants to blow up pipelines in the state.
The AGF made the accusation while rationalizing President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency following the protracted political crisis in the state.
He said if the governor was not culpable, he did not also do anything to dissuade the militants from taking action against the critical national infrastructure.
He said: “We are in a democracy. So now then, there were what I will call telegraphing of the militants, I will say, by the governor. And the reason I said so was when he began, he said oh, he will let them know when it was time to act to the militant.
“Let us say it was wrong. Did he come out to disown them? The answer is no. And a week after, they swung into action, you see or witness vandalization of oil pipelines.”
Noting that the nation’s almost totally rely on oil, he said for anyone to touch the pipeline, he is not only an enemy of Rivers but Nigeria.
He said that the judgment of the Supreme Court was the base upon which Tinubu imposed the state of emergency in Rivers State to protect the critical infrastructure in the state.
The AGF observed that the governor and the members of the state house of assembly had to be suspended because they had failed to ensure a conducive atmosphere for governance in the state.
He pushed back on criticisms that the president’s action was hasty noting that people were living in fear while others were dying.
He said both the Governor and his deputy were suspended because it was an extraordinary situation.
He faulted the argument in some quarters that the Supreme Court in previous judgement on the declaration of State of emergency in states, stressing that situations and events were different.
The AGF said the ball is now in the court of the National Assembly who he said could reverse the suspensions by denying it the two-thirds majority to ratify the action.
He also said that the declaration of State of emergency in Rivers State was a warning signal to other states, giving the impression that the government would invoke stricter sanctions.
