Prominent PDP chieftain and publisher Dele Momodu has delivered one of the most powerful and personally charged criticisms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State. Speaking on Channels Television's The Morning Brief, Momodu did not hold back — drawing on his shared history with Tinubu as fellow pro-democracy activists to make a pointed and deeply emotional appeal for the president to step back from what he described as an alarming erosion of democratic principles.
What Triggered the State of Emergency
On March 31 2025 President Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, citing ongoing political unrest in the oil-rich region as justification for the extraordinary intervention. The declaration resulted in the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu, and the entire Rivers State House of Assembly for a period of six months — effectively removing the state's entire elected leadership from power in a single sweeping executive action.
The move came against the backdrop of a prolonged and deeply bitter political crisis in Rivers State — one rooted in the fractured relationship between Governor Fubara and his political godfather FCT Minister Nyesom Wike. What had begun as a political disagreement had escalated steadily into an institutional crisis that eventually drew in the federal government — and Tinubu's declaration of emergency rule represented the most direct and consequential federal intervention yet.
Momodu Speaks — Words From a Former Comrade
What gave Dele Momodu's criticism its particular weight was not just his political standing but the personal history he shares with the man he was criticising. Momodu and Tinubu were not always on opposite sides — they were once fellow travellers in Nigeria's pro-democracy struggle, both having lived in exile and fought for the democratic principles that now appear to Momodu to be under threat from the very man who once helped defend them.
That personal dimension transformed what might otherwise have been standard political opposition criticism into something far more significant — a rebuke from someone who knows Tinubu personally and who is therefore speaking from a place of genuine disappointment rather than mere partisan opposition.
He said:
"I think it is very unfortunate. Though I have not been in the same party with him, we were together in exile. He fought gallantly for this democracy, and a lot of us are embarrassed to see that we are now witnessing a situation that is worse than dictatorship."
The use of the word embarrassed was deliberately chosen and powerfully delivered. It was not the language of a political rival scoring points — it was the language of someone who genuinely cannot reconcile the Tinubu he once knew with the actions being taken under his presidency.
"Please Don't Kill Democracy in Nigeria"
The most quoted and most widely shared moment from Momodu's appearance on Channels Television was his direct and heartfelt plea to the president — words that quickly became the defining statement of the national conversation about the Rivers State emergency declaration.
He said simply and clearly:
"Please don't kill democracy in Nigeria."
Five words. But they carried the weight of Nigeria's entire democratic history — the struggles, the sacrifices, the lives lost, and the years spent fighting for the right of Nigerians to choose their own leaders and hold them accountable. For many Nigerians watching and listening those words captured exactly what they had been feeling but perhaps had not found the language to express.
The appeal was not just political. It was a moral argument — a reminder that democracy is not simply a system of government but a set of values and commitments that must be actively protected by everyone who benefits from them, including and especially those who hold the most power.
A Warning Against Political Intimidation
Beyond his emotional appeal Momodu also offered a more strategic and cautionary message to President Tinubu about the dangers of the path the Rivers State intervention represents. He warned the president to be wary of those advising him to use the instruments of state power to intimidate and suppress political opposition.
He stated:
"You do not need to intimidate anybody."
It was a pointed and important observation. History is littered with examples of leaders who allowed themselves to be persuaded by advisers and allies that strength requires the suppression of opposition — and who ultimately found that the short-term political gains were far outweighed by the long-term damage to their legacy and to the institutions they were supposed to protect.
Momodu was essentially urging Tinubu to measure his success not by how effectively he can neutralise his political rivals but by how well he governs and how much better the lives of ordinary Nigerians become under his watch. That is the standard by which history will ultimately judge him — and it is the standard that matters most.
The Wider Implications for Nigerian Democracy
Momodu's criticism resonates because it touches on concerns that extend well beyond the specific political situation in Rivers State. The use of emergency powers to remove an elected state governor — even in circumstances of genuine political crisis — raises fundamental questions about the balance of power between the federal government and state governments in Nigeria's constitutional framework.
If the precedent is established that a president can suspend elected state officials for six months whenever political tensions in a state become sufficiently uncomfortable, what protection do future governors have against similar intervention? What safeguards exist for voters who elected those officials to represent them? And what message does it send about the value Nigeria's leadership places on the democratic processes through which power is supposed to be conferred and removed?
These are not abstract constitutional questions. They are questions with real and immediate consequences for how power is exercised and contested in Nigeria — and for whether ordinary Nigerians can have confidence that their votes and their chosen representatives are protected by something more durable than the preferences of whoever holds federal power at any given moment.
What This Moment Means for Nigeria's Democratic Future
Nigeria's democracy is still relatively young and still fragile in important ways. It has survived military coups, fraudulent elections, political violence, and institutional corruption. Each of those tests has left marks — but the democratic project has survived. What moments like the Rivers State state of emergency test is something different — not the democracy's ability to survive external shocks but its ability to protect itself from being hollowed out from within by those who claim to support it while acting in ways that undermine it.
Dele Momodu's plea — please don't kill democracy in Nigeria — is therefore not just a message to President Tinubu. It is a message to every Nigerian who understands what was sacrificed to build the democratic system that exists today and what would be lost if it were allowed to erode. Democracy requires active defence — not just from its enemies but from its friends who may not always recognise when they are becoming its biggest threat.
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