Despite a fresh peace deal sealed by hitherto warring factions in Rivers State, experts have urged governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to cave in to pressure to withdraw their suit at the Supreme Court challenging the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara by President Bola Tinubu.
The political experts – Jide Ojo and Kenneth Nweke – were guests on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Friday.
According to them, the apex court should deliver a pronouncement on the controversial Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, which the president said he relied on to suspend the democratically elected governor on March 18, 2025.
Ojo and Nweke said the verdict of the Supreme Court would clear all controversy about the legality or otherwise of any president to suspend a sitting governor upon the imposition of a state of emergency.
Governor Fubara (left), President Tinubu (centre) and FCT Minister Wike all smiles at their meeting on Thursday.
Governor Fubara (left), President Tinubu (centre) and FCT Minister Wike all smiles at their meeting on Thursday.
Nweke, a Professor of Politics and Governance at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, in Rivers State, said no part of the constitution allows a president to suspend a democratically elected governor.
The don said, “The legal debate should be on as to whether the president has the power to suspend democratic structures, not just the executive arm of government, but the legislative arm of government.
“The democratic structures were suspended. That, for me, is an aberration. There is no part of the Constitution that allows that to happen.
“Legally speaking, I do not see anything to has justified what the president has done, but politically
“I want to encourage those who have gone to court to allow the matter to subsist so that it will enrich our legal lexicon and debate around the state of emergency. And so that at the end of the day, we would have learned some lessons.
“It was not Governor Fubara who went to court to challenge (his suspension); it may be civil society organisations, it may be PDP Governors’ Forum who is in court, for me and for the benefit of the students I teach and for the purposes of research and the political development of Nigeria, those litigations should go on so that a lot of people will learn a lot and be enriched in our literature,” the scholar added.
