Our reporter/ Lateef Fagbemi, Nigeria’s attorney-general and minister of justice has defended President Bola Tinubu’s state of emergency proclamation in Rivers State, saying the president has the power to sack any governor from office.
Fagbemi’s statement on Wednesday, which has no basis in the Nigerian Constitution, came following Tinubu’s removal of Simi Fubara as governor of Rivers and the fierce criticism that has trailed the development.
Since proclaiming the emergency rule on Tuesday evening, Tinubu has come under intense backlash as eminent Nigerians, groups and law pundits deemed the decision an abuse of office.
In backing the move, Fagbemi also added that any governor who posed a threat to the president’s administration should expect dismissal.
“If it happens again, I will encourage the president to do the same, maybe with greater vigour and vitality,” the attorney-general said emphatically.
He said Tinubu would not give anyone preferential treatment and would bear down the full weight of emergency law on uncooperative states.
“It’s Rivers State today; it can be anybody’s turn tomorrow,” the attorney-general said a briefing.
“Let the signal be clearly sent for those who want to foment trouble, who want to make the practice of democracy and enjoyment of dividends of democracy a mirage to think twice,” he added.
The emergency proclamation on Tuesday night sent shockwaves through the country as Fubara had not yet been impeached. Tinubu’s activation of Section 305 of the Nigerian Constitution to remove an elected governor was widely deemed an overreach of his presidential powers.
How Fagbemi, a senior lawyer, reached his controversial point pronouncement remained unclear. The Nigerian Constitution Section 305 allows the president to declare emergency powers over a state to restore order. Still, it does not say the president can remove existing democratic institutions and replace them with an emergency military rule. The National Assembly has until Thursday to ratify the declaration, with most lawmakers staying away from the parliament on Wednesday to avoid debating the matter.
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