Supreme Court Rules Governor Stays In Emergency

House of Representatives member for Ikwuano-Umuahia Constituency, Obi Aguocha, has said President Bola Tinubu lacked the right to suspend Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy and members of House of Assembly. Naija News reported that President Tinubu, on Tuesday, suspended Fubara, his deputy and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. While the Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, said the President acted in line with constitutional rights, opposition political parties, politicians and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) said his action was illegal. In an interview with Arise News on Wednesday, Aguocha stated that the Supreme Court, in 2013, clarified that even in a state of emergency, the democratic structure of a state cannot be dissolved or removed. He added that Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, was clear on how a governor can be removed. His words: “In the case between AG Federation and AG Lagos in 2013, the Supreme Court also held that consistently with the decision in Plateau, that under no circumstance, under no circumstances shall the democratic structures of a state be dissolved or removed, even in a state of emergency. And then by going again to Section 305, states equivocally the conditions that would arise that would warrant a state of emergency. Now, under no circumstances, the president is right to declare a state of emergency, but he falls short to have the right to dissolve an elected governor, deputy, and members of the House of Assembly. “So Section 305 does not give him, in my view, I’m not a lawyer, but in my view as a common sense legislator, I don’t think Section 305 gives the President that mandate to go beyond the declaration of a state of emergency. “Section 188 of the Constitution stipulates the manners in which a governor or a deputy governor, in this case Governor Fubara and his deputy, can be removed from office through an impeachment process or death.”