The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has faulted President Bola Tinubu over his handling of the suspension and subsequent reinstatement of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, describing it as a dangerous affront to Nigeria’s democracy.
In a statement issued on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said it was regrettable that for six months, the will of the people of Rivers State was set aside, not by a court of law, but by a unilateral act of the president.
“Their elected leaders were, in effect, put on suspension, not by a court of law, but by a president who himself was elected. Now, with the wave of a hand and the ink from his pen, the same president has decided to ‘allow’ other duly elected officials back to work, as though they were his political appointees,” the statement read.
The party argued that the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State was a purely political contrivance that demanded an impartial intervention from the presidency. Instead, it alleged, President Tinubu “chose to serve the will of demagogues in his government, deploying the power of the constitution to attack what he should have protected.”
According to the ADC, governors and legislators in a democracy derive their legitimacy from the people, not from the president’s office. It maintained that only a competent court has the authority to remove or restrain elected officials, not “a press statement or presidential proclamation.”
“The president is not a headmaster, and governors are not his pupils to be sent home and recalled at his discretion. Yet, we recall that this president once claimed to be a federalist who, as a state governor himself, fought to protect the relative autonomy of his state,” the party stated.
The ADC added that Governor Fubara’s removal had little to do with law, justice, or governance but was driven by a desire for control. “It was about reinforcing the idea that, in today’s Nigeria, institutions may exist, but they remain subordinate to the will of one man,” it said.
Citing Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which empowers the president to declare a state of emergency, the party stressed that the provision was never intended as a tool for settling political scores. “It exists for moments of genuine public danger, such as floods, epidemics, or insurrections, not for political convenience,” the party noted.
The ADC urged the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, to take a definitive position on the matter to prevent the erosion of democratic norms.
“In moments like this, the judiciary cannot maintain silent indifference, or history will record them as collaborators in the subversion of our democracy,” the statement warned.
