Nigeria’s former Agriculture Minister, Audu Ogbeh, has faulted the method through which the National Assembly approved President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State.

He categorically told the lawmakers that someday in the future, their children and grandchildren would ask questions about how serious issues such as a declaration of emergency rule were handled at the national assembly.

Newsmen reported that Tinubu declared state of emergency in Rivers State on Tuesdsy, suspending Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Prof. Ngozi Odu and all elected officials from the state for six months

Both chambers of the National Assembly raised the issue for discussion on Thursday after they approved the President’s declaration despite opposition.

The former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, between 2001 and 2005, said for future occasions, the lawmakers should explore technological tools and vote individually.

He faulted the voice vote that members of the House of Representatives and the Senate used to approve the emergency rule proclamation of Tinubu.

The 77-year-old made his feeling on the matter known on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme hours after the lawmakers threw their weight behind Tinubu.

“Ayes and nays do not give us a clear picture of the position and the moral authority of individual senators or members of the House.

“Nobody should hide under a shadow – if you want a vote, say so; if you don’t want it, say so but this ayes and nays is a camouflage, it doesn’t work,” he said.

Ogbeh, who was the deputy speaker of the House of Assembly in Benue State from 1979 to 1982, added,
“When the matter came before the National Assembly for voting, I would like to suggest to the National Assembly to install a capacity in the future for individual voting which they can print out; not ayes and nays, because someday, 10 to 20 years from now, their children and grandchildren and researchers would like to find out how individuals voted on particular bills.”

The Nigerian agriculture minister from November 2015 to May 2019 faulted Tinubu’s decision to declare a state of emergency, adding that the president should have called notable Nigerians to mediate in the matter.

He said, “Rivers State is bigger than any individual. We as a country and as countrymen are not interested in watching a situation where Rivers State and the entire Niger Delta will go up in flames.”