PDP Governors Challenge Suspension of Rivers State Governor in Supreme Court
In a significant legal showdown, governors aligned with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have filed a lawsuit at the Supreme Court of Nigeria, contesting the authority of President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to suspend Governor Siminalayi Fubara following the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State on March 18.
The suspension, described by many legal scholars as unconstitutional, also extends to Governor Fubara’s deputy, Ngozi Odu, and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. This decision, announced by President Tinubu, cited claims of political instability within the state and imposed a controversial six-month suspension.
Governors from Bauchi, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Enugu, Osun, Plateau, and Zamfara are co-litigants in the suit, which challenges the president’s power to remove democratically elected officials from office. The action positions the governors against both President Tinubu and the National Assembly, which played a role in ratifying the president’s proclamations, including the appointment of former chief of naval staff, Ibok-Ette Ibas, as the sole administrator of Rivers.
The lawsuit contends that the president lacks the constitutional authority to suspend democratically elected state officials under the guise of a state of emergency. The PDP governors are invoking Sections 1(2), 5(2), and 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), urging the Supreme Court to declare the suspensions unconstitutional and a gross violation of constitutional provisions.
In addition to contesting the suspensions, the opposition governors are challenging the legality of the appointment of Ibas as sole administrator, arguing that the president overstepped his statutory powers by substituting a sitting governor with an appointee.
The suit further disputes the use of voice votes in the National Assembly that ratified Mr. Tinubu’s actions, claiming it undermined the constitutional requirement for a two-thirds majority vote in each legislative chamber.
Through their legal recourse, the PDP governors seek to nullify President Tinubu’s proclamations and underscore the necessity of adhering to constitutional due process in such critical matters as the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers. The case is now set to unfold in the apex court, with implications that could ripple through the dynamics of Nigerian governance and the constitutional prerogatives of state leadership.