A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome has said that the declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu can be likened to a civilian coup d’état.
Ozekhome also warned that the subsequent suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and other elected officials in Rivers is unconstitutional and illegal.
In a statement released on Thursday, the senior lawyer also described the allocation od Rivers State’s fund to the newly appointed sole administrator in the state as illegal.
Ozekhome said, “A state of emergency does not and cannot translate to a civilian coup d’état executed through executive fiat in a national broadcast that torpedoes elected structures and whimsically imposes a sole administrator to receive Rivers State allocations in violation of Section 162 of the Constitution and contrary to the Supreme Court judgment that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu claimed to uphold.”
Also stating that the action of the president is unlawful, Ozekhome queried the sincerity of the decision taking by President Tinubu.
“Is this about democratic governance, or is it about power and control?” he asked.
He noted that the declaration of the State of Emergency and suspension of duly elected officers might have been acceptable in a military rule.
The lawyer said there is only one legal path to removing a governor.
Godfatherism want to murder democracy in Nigeria. I have foreseen this for sometime now that this man will turn governor to local government chairmen that they’ve been suspending at the snap of their fingers.