Former Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai says President Bola Tinubu violated the order of the Supreme Court by suspending Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and imposing a state of emergency on Rivers State.
El-Rufai who made the revelation during a press conference held on Thursday, March 20, 2025, at the Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre in Abuja said what President Tinubu has done is ‘constitutionally and violently unlawful’.
He said “Ladies and gentlemen, the two cases referred to happened during the Obasanjo administration, in which His Excellency, both the vice- president and my humble self were part of. It is true that in those cases, the governors were suspended”.
“These suspensions were challenged in the court, and in 2006, the Supreme Court of Nigeria gave a judgment, clearly stating that, even though Dariye had been restored to office, the Supreme Court lashed the Obasanjo administration and said that under no circumstances will the emergency of the provisions of Section 305 to remove any elected official”.
“That is the law. The Supreme Court has spoken; no legislation or constitutional amendment has changed that, so that is the law. No one, no person or authority can remove an elected official whether governor, deputy governor or members of the legislature without going through the due process of law. In the case of governor, through impeachment and in the case of legislators, through recall”.
“Those are the processes through which you can remove an elected person. You cannot tamper with the mandate of the person under section 305. What President Tinubu has done is violently and constitutionally unlawful”.
