LEGAL practitioners have criticised President Bola Tinubu’s six-month suspension of Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, all the state lawmakers, and the declaration of a state of emergency in the oil-rich state.

The ICIR reported that Tinubu, in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday, March 18, blamed the governor and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, for allowing the political crisis in the state to escalate.

The president appointed Ibok Ekwe Ibas, a retired rear admiral, as the state administrator.

“I have watched with concern the development with the hope that the parties involved will allow good sense to prevail at the soonest, but all that hope burns out without any solution to the crisis,” he said.

The ICIR reported that the political crisis in the state climaxed on Monday, March 17, when the House of Assembly served Fubara, and his deputy, Odu, a notice of gross misconduct, which could lead to their impeachment.

Although Tinubu cited Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, arguing that the emergency measure was necessary to restore peace, some lawyers have challenged his position on the matter.

Kunle Edun, a senior advocate, said Tinubu lacked the constitutional power to suspend Fubara and members of the state’s House of Assembly under the provisions of Section 305 of the Nigerian Constitution.

Edun clarified in a statement released on Tuesday that while Section 305 defines the conditions for declaring a state of emergency, it does not authorise the president to remove or suspend elected state officials.

“The provisions of Section 305 relied upon by President Tinubu do not empower the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to remove or suspend elected state officials. Section 305(3) of the constitution prescribed the grounds upon which a state of emergency can be declared, and none of the reasons alluded to by the president justifies the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State,” he said.

He emphasised that under Section 305(4), only a state governor, with the backing of a two-thirds majority in the House of Assembly, can request the president to declare a state of emergency in any part of the state.

Arguing that the crisis in Rivers State had already been settled by the Supreme Court, he said, “The Supreme Court has already settled the issues causing the crisis in the state and the House of Assembly had started sitting.

“As a matter of fact, Governor Fubara was at the House of Assembly complex to present the 2025 budget in response to the demand of the Rivers’ State House of Assembly. So, Mr. President was very wrong to say that there was no longer a functional government in Rivers State simply because the House of Assembly complex was demolished.”

Edun pointed out that the constitution provides clear guidelines for situations where a state Assembly is unable to perform its legislative functions. He cited Section 11(4), which empowers the National Assembly to assume legislative duties in such cases, but does not grant the president the authority to remove or suspend state officials.

“A State House of Assembly can not be suspended by the president. Rather, it is the National Assembly that has the constitutional power to take over the legislative functions of the state. Therefore, the constitution did not envisage a situation where a state will be without a legislature at any time,” he added.

Similarly, another legal practitioner, Ekemini Simon, questioned where the official gazette for the proclamation was published in accordance with the constitution. He also criticised the president for failing to transmit copies of the gazette to the National Assembly for consideration before the declaration, allowing lawmakers to decide whether to approve the proclamation.

Quoting the constitution, he said “(1) Subject to the provisions of this constitution, the president may by instrument published in the official Gazette of the Government of the Federation issue a proclamation of a state of emergency in the Federation or any part thereof.

“(2) The president shall immediately after the publication, transmit copies of the official Gazette of the Government of the Federation. From the foregoing, Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution provides that the intention to declare a state of emergency should first be published in a Federal Government Gazette”

Simon emphasised that the rule of law is supreme over personal interests but noted that there was an opportunity to rectify the situation.

He cited Section 305(6), which states that a presidential proclamation ceases to be effective if revoked through an official gazette or if the National Assembly fails to approve it by a two-thirds majority within two days if in session or ten days if not.

Tinubu’s U-turn on state of emergency

The ICIR reports that when former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states in 2013, Tinubu criticised the move, describing it as a dangerous trend in governance and a deliberate attempt to undermine constitutional democracy.

“The body language of the Jonathan administration leads any keen watcher of events with the unmistakable conclusion of the existence of a surreptitious but barely disguised intention to muzzle the elected governments of these states for what is clearly a display of unpardonable mediocrity and diabolic partisanship geared towards 2015 (election),” he said.

He further claimed that the government was using security challenges as a pretext to remove governors from states perceived as hostile to the 2015 Jonathan re-election agenda.

Nanji Nandang VENLEY

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Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.