From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
A group of lawyers, on the aegies of Public Interest Lawyers ( PIL), on Friday,staged a peaceful march at the United States of America ( USA), Embassy, in Abuja, to canvass for support for the Emergency Rule imposed on Rivers State.
The lawyers, led by Beeior Orpin, argued that Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution ( as amended) empowers the President to proclaim a state of emergency if public safety and public order are endangered.
President Bola Tinubu had in March declared an emergency rule in Rivers State, and suspended the governor, Siminalayi Fubara, as well as the deputy governor, Ngozi Odu, and the state House of Assembly, for six months in the first instance.
However, the President action has generated mixed reactions, with several persons faulting the Emergency Rule, especially the suspension of elected public officials.
Nonetheless, the lawyers contended that the Emergency Rule was necessary as Rivers was allegedly slipping into anarchy prior to the President’s action..
According to them, “lives and property were in grave danger in Rivers State before the president’s intervention. Since then, calm has returned, and the process of enduring peace and law and order is in progress.
“We thank the president for his timely action and request that the United States as the bastion of democracy, support him to entrench law and order in our country.”