Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, on Sunday commenced drafting the response of President Bola Tinubu to the People’s Democratic Party’s governors’ suit challenging the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State.
New Telegraph gathered that the Governors on the platform of the PDP have engaged seven Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and six other attorneys to battle the Federal Government at the Supreme Court on what powers the President has to declare emergency rule in a state and suspend a democratically elected institution of the state.
The SANs hired by the governors include Bolaji Ayorinde, Eyitayo Jegede, Kamaldeen Ajibade, J.A Mumuni, Musibau Adetunbi, Samuel Atung and Yunus Abdulsalam.
The PDP governors are also contesting the appointment of a sole administrator by the President to manage the affairs of Rivers State pending the duration of the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
It would be recalled that President Tinubu, on March 18, 2025, declared a state of emergency in Rivers State and suspended Governor Fubara, his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for an initial period of six months.
The others are M.S. Atolagbe, Ezenwa Ibegbunam, Chiamaka Anagu, Olakunle Lawal, Abduljalil Musa and H. A. Adeleke.
Following the suspension, Tinubu appointed Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ibas (retd.) as the sole administrator to oversee the affairs of Rivers State during the period of the suspension.
Meanwhile, the lawmakers supported the President’s decision through a voice vote at the Upper and Lower Chambers of the National Assembly.
Consequently, 11 PDP governors dragged the President and the National Assembly before the Supreme Court, challenging the President’s powers to declare an emergency rule and suspend elected officials in a state.
The 11 states whose governors instituted the suit are Adamawa, Enugu, Osun, Oyo, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Plateau, Delta, Taraba, Zamfara, and Bayelsa.
The governors in the suit marked SC/CV/329/2025, among others, asked the Supreme Court to determine “Whether upon a proper construction and interpretation of the provisions of Sections 1(2), 5(2), 176, 180, 188 and 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can lawfully suspend or in any manner whatsoever interfere with the offices of a Governor and the Deputy Governor of any of the component 36 States of the Federation of Nigeria and replace same with his unelected nominee as a Sole Administrator, under the guise of, or pursuant to, a Proclamation of a State of Emergency in any of the State of the Federation, particularly in any of the Plaintiffs States?
“Whether the consequent threat by the first Defendant acting on behalf of the President to the States of the Federation, including the Plaintiffs’ States, to the effect that the offices of the Governor and Deputy Governor of the States can be suspended by the President by a Proclamation of a State of Emergency, is not in contravention of the provisions of Sections 1(2), 4(6), 5(2), 11(2) and (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and inconsistent with the principles of constitutional federalism?”
However, a source in the AGF’s office who spoke in confidentially to Punch said that legal teams were working on the response to the suit.
“As we speak, my colleagues are in the office working on the processes,” the source said.
The Supreme Court has yet to fix a date for the hearing.
