A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ogbonna Nwuke, has said caretaker committee chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha, cannot stampede President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency in the state.

Nwuke, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stated this while speaking with LEADERSHIP in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

He advised Okocha to focus more on his job as representative of the state on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), saying that Rivers State occupies a very strategic and critical position in the life of the nation.

The former federal lawmaker said: "I think what we are seeing is evidence of desperation and possibly frustration that has engulfed those who think destabilising their state is a good thing to do.

"You can see that across the country, there have been reactions to that call and everybody who has spoken has risen in condemnation of the call. I think that Tony Okocha should do well to face his assignment as the NDDC state representative.

"As a state representative, we are not feeling his impact and I think that is because he is paying more attention, in these times to political matters and becoming in the process, an extremist.

"How can a man call for a state of emergency in his own state? A state that is developing at its pace; a state where people are largely living in peace; a state that has remained for several years in infrastructural development. It is a shame; great shame.

"But, I have a message for him, there is no way people like Tony Okocha can stampede the President into taking such action on a critical state such as Rivers.

"Tony Okocha should look beyond the squabbles between his boss, Nyesom Wike and the governor of Rivers State and look at the critical and strategic position that Rivers State occupies in the life of the nation," he said.