The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has reiterated its position on the declaration of emergency and the removal of the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, by President Bola Tinubu, regarding the action as unconstitutional and has called on the President to reverse that decision.
The NBA said that in the eye of the law, since the declaration was unconstitutional, every other subsequent actions are illegalities.
On Tuesday, the President declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, suspending the governor, his deputy and all the members of the House of Assembly over the political crisis rocking the oil-rich state.
The President appointed Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired naval chief, as the state sole administrator.
Following up with its earlier statement condemning the action of the President regarding Rivers State, the NBA whose President, Afam Osigwe, was a guest on Sunday Politics, insists that Fubara must be brought back to his position as the governor of Rivers State as the constitution does not recognise a Sole Administrator.
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“That is our belief, that is what we expect the president to do, to restore him (Fubara) back to power having unconstitutionally removed him,” Osigwe said on the programme when asked if the president should recall the governor.
“And that is why we do not recognise a sole administrator is the rightful person to occupy the government house in Rivers State having been appointed unconstitutionally.
“Even when I saw him taking oath of office, I was wondering which oath he was taking because he was taking an oath not known to the constitution, the constitution does not recognise an administrator.”
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‘Political Solution needed’
Osigwe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria said that the problem in Rivers State is being cured with a wrong solution, likening it to one using a sledgehammer on his head because of headache.
According to him, the measure being taken to address the Rivers problem “are overreaching, extensive, undemocratic and above all, unconstitutional.”
He maintained that the problem in Rivers State is political and only a political solution will bring it to an end.
‘No constitutional gap’
There have been claims in some quarters that there was a gap in Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution which President Tinubu used in taking the action in Rivers State, but the NBA president has refuted that, insisting that the Constitution is explicit enough, only that the operators have refused to implement it rightly
“I do not believe that it (Section 305) is not explicit, I simply believe that we deliberately refuse to apply it the way it is,” Osigwe said.
The National Assembly has approved the declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State, but Osigwe does not believe that the lawmakers approval legitimized the President’s action.
He said that the National Assembly’s approval is like placing something on nothing.
