Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, on Wednesday defended President Bola Tinubu’s state of emergency proclamation in Rivers State, saying the president has the power to sack any governor from office.
Mr Fagbemi’s statement, which has no basis in the Nigerian Constitution, came a day after Mr Tinubu ordered the removal of Simi Fubara as governor of Rivers.
The president cited a protracted political crisis in the state for his decision, as lawmakers attempted to impeach the governor from office over a slew of political disagreements.
Since proclaiming the emergency rule on Tuesday evening, Mr Tinubu has come under intense backlash as law pundits deemed the decision an abuse of office and argued whether the president had any constitutional right to suspend an elected governor who was not impeached.
While trying to justify the controversial move, Mr Fagbemi not only backed the proclamation but 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 Mr 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 on Wednesday at 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 Mr Fubara had not yet been impeached. Mr 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 Mr 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.
Some governors have expressed the potential to approach the Supreme Court to interpret the president’s decision and potentially nullify it.
