ADC Backs Shettima, Says Tinubu Lacks Power To Suspend Governor

… As VP Clarifies Statement

The African Democratic Congress (ADC), has joined the debate over the constitutional limits on the power of a president to suspend or remove an elected governor from office.

The debate was sparked by Vice President Kashim Shettima’s statement at a book launch in Abuja on Thursday.

Shettima recalled how former President Goodluck Jonathan had attempted to remove him from office as governor of Borno State following an emergency rule declaration in 2014.

The vice president went ahead to narrate how the intervention of a former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, and then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal saved his job.

For emphasis, Shettima had recalled how Adoke and Tambuwal told Jonathan that he lacked the power to remove any elected governor under whatever guise.

The office of the Vice President had since issued a statement to counter widespread institutions in the media, that his statement was a pot shot at his boss, President Bola Tinubu.

Recall that President Tinubu, had on March 18, declared an emergency rule in Rivers State, suspending Governor Siminalayi Fubara for six months.

Tinubu also suspended members of the Rivers House Assembly and appointed retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas as Sole Administrator.

Commentators have continued to interpret Shettima’s statements in the context of Tinubu’s suspension of Governor Fubara.

Joining the debate, the ADC, on Friday, demanded an end to what it described as illegal takeover of Rivers State.

The opposition coalition dismissed the clarification by the office of the Vice President
as “a mere attempt at political correctness.”

A statement by the spokesman of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the truth must not be lost in the fog of political correctness.

The party urged the Vice-President “to stand by his forthright and courageous statement,” which it said, affirmed that President Tinubu has no constitutional power to remove an elected councilor, not to talk of a sitting governor.

“This simple truth, which is anchored in the Nigerian Constitution, must not be lost in the fog of political correctness that is currently emanating from Aso Rock.

“Truth does not respect political correctness, because what is wrong is wrong. What made the removal of an elected governor wrong and unconstitutional under President Jonathan in the case of Borno State, is the same that makes it wrong and unconstitutional under President Tinubu in the case of Rivers State.

“The only thing that has changed, is that while one president held the constitution as sacrosanct and inviolable, another feels it could be manipulated to suit narrow political interests,” Abdullahi stated.

Comparing the situation under Jonathan with the Tinubu administration, the ADC rated the former’s democratic credentials above the latter’s.

“This is not just history. It is precedent. But unlike Jonathan, who has been widely acclaimed as a respecter of the law, President Tinubu chose to disregard the very laws he swore to uphold and tread the path of unconstitutionality in Rivers State.

“The suspension of a duly elected governor is not just unconstitutional, it is also authoritarian, and a dangerous precedent if allowed to persist even for a single more day.

“The ongoing executive overreach—fueled by narrow political interests— indeed poses a grave threat to Nigeria’s democracy and federalism.

“Nigeria is not a monarchy. The powers of the President are not absolute. They are bounded by law, tempered by precedent, and subject to public accountability.

“For the avoidance of doubts, the breakdown of law and order that the presidency has deployed as pretext to overthrow democratic order in Rivers State is nothing compared with the rampaging scourge of Boko Haram that abducted more than 200 school girls in Chibok, Borno state, slaughtered school boys in Buni Yadi, Yobe State and challenged the very sovereignty of Nigeria.

“Yet, in declaring a state of emergency in the affected states under these dire circumstances, President Jonathan recognised the limits of his constitutional powers and he respected such.

“This was the truth that the Vice President reminded us of at the Book Launch of former Attorney General, Mohammed Bello Adoke on Thursday. It was not faux pas, it was not Freudian slip, it was the truth anchored on the facts of history,” the party insisted.

The ADC called on President Tinubu to immediately restore democratic governance in Rivers State, cease all illegal interference in the affairs of the state, and halt the unconstitutional actions that have upended democratic rule in Rivers.

The party also demanded an unreserved apology from the president to the Nigerian people, “for this abuse of power and the blatant disregard for constitutional order” that has played out under his watch.

The opposition coalition pledged to continue standing with the Nigerian people in defence of democracy, justice, and constitutionalism.

However, Shettima has refuted insinuations that his comments at the book launch were directed at President Tinubu regarding the political crisis in Rivers State.

In a statement on Friday by his media adviser, Stanley Nkwocha, the vice president clarified that the remarks were taken out of context and misrepresented by certain media reports.

“It was gross misrepresentation to link his speech at the public presentation of the book, ‘OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block,” authored by former Attorney-general of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke.

“During the book launch, held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Shettima spoke on how he was almost removed as Borno governor under the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

“He recalled how Adoke, as AGF, courageously stood against his removal and told the then President, ‘Mr President, you do not have the power to remove the Governor’.”

According to the Vice President, the then House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, also told Jonathan that he did not have the power to remove even a councillor of a local government.

However, the remarks were interpreted in some sections of the media (not THE WHISTLER) as an indirect jibe at President Tinubu over his controversial suspension of elected officials in Rivers State.

But reacting to media reports linking Shettima’s remarks to the Rivers crisis, Nkwocha said some news outlets “have irresponsibly twisted the Vice President’s account” of how the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan floated the idea of removing him from office, then as governor of Borno State, during the most critical phase of insurgency in the North East region of the country.

“Sensational reporting disappointingly tried to erect a highly mendacious argument about the state of emergency declared in Rivers State and the subsequent suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara by His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The statement added that the vice president’s remarks were strictly within the context of acknowledging the former Attorney General’s role during the Jonathan administration and not aimed at criticising the current administration.

“His remarks were historical references to events that occurred during the Jonathan administration, and constituted nothing more than an intellectual discourse on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution.

“The VP’s comments were purely illustrative, intended to demonstrate how our constitutional democracy has matured within the capacity to resolve complex federal-state tensions through established legal mechanisms.

“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional action taken was suspension, and not outright removal. It was part of the measures implemented, including the state of emergency declared, in response to the grave circumstances surrounding the polity in Rivers State at the time.”

The Vice President’s office further said that the circumstances in Rivers, including attacks on institutions, threats of impeachment, and political instability, justified intervention

“This cannot be compared with the situation in the North East region under the Jonathan administration, where violent non-state actors were challenging the sovereignty of the Nigerian state and required collective action from the central government and subnationals to eliminate the terrorists. President Tinubu’s actions were taken within the constitutional framework and in consultation with relevant stakeholders to preserve democratic institutions and maintain peace in Rivers State.

“Our laws provide an explicit framework for comprehending these matters with the nuance they deserve. Section 305(1)(c) explicitly authorises measures to be taken when there is “a breakdown of public order and public safety in the federation or any part thereof to such extent as to require extraordinary measures to restore peace and security.”

“The steep descent into chaos in Rivers State had reached precisely this constitutional threshold, with daily incidents of politically motivated violence, systematic attacks on federal institutions, and complete paralysis of governance, creating conditions that no democratic society could reasonably tolerate. Worse still, it degenerated into attacks on national assets, according to credible security reports.

“President Tinubu followed the constitutional process with honest precision. The President’s proclamation properly invoked Section 305(2), which was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly as mandated by Section 305(3),” said Nkwocha.

He rejected claims that Shettima’s speech was aimed at undermining President Tinubu or comparing the Rivers crisis with past events in the North East.

“To interpret Senator Shettima’s observations as commentary on current affairs represents either willful misinterpretation or ignorance of constitutional discourse.

“Vice President Shettima stands shoulder to shoulder with President Tinubu in implementing these difficult but indispensable actions to safeguard our democracy. We implore media organisations and political actors to abandon the destructive practice of wrenching statements from their proper context to fabricate nonexistent conflicts,” he affirmed.

ADC Backs Shettima, Says Tinubu Lacks Power To Suspend Governor is first published on The Whistler Newspaper