Dr. Reuben Abati, a senior journalist and former senior media and publicity adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, said President Bola Tinubu committed improvisable crimes.
Abati argued that the Nigerian president’s declaration could not remove the governor from his term. He made his claim on Wednesday, March 19 in a morning show on the TV show.
The statement comes after Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State on Tuesday night.
The president made a statement on a national broadcast.
Tinubu said he was “extremely disturbed by the state’s political crisis” and accused Governor Siminilayi Fubara of demolishing the state capitol.
He said after evaluating the situation, he decided to declare a state of emergency “from March 18”.
But, Abati said that even within the scope of Article 305, President Tinob violated the Constitution, insisting that he had not received proper advice for that part of the Constitution.
President Tinob also authorized himself to make laws for the Rivers State Capitol, Abati said, noting that it was an improper crime.
He also argued that Tinubu had said that the administrators he appointed could make regulations and that the Federal Executive Committee would make laws for the Rivers State Capitol.
Abati said:
“Let me comment on the interpretation of the constitution that the President himself emphasized.
“Article 305 of the Constitution explains the situation where the president declares a state of emergency and the conditions are correct if the country faces the threat of war or an imminent war.
“It also talks about a situation where something might happen anywhere in the federal government, Nigeria might find itself in a mess and the president has to take action.
“Third, the governor in that particular state did not respond immediately to the crisis situation, nor did he approach the president to act in national interest.
“So, these conditions are correct.
“If the National Assembly does not consider a particular declaration to be valid, it will vote, otherwise two-thirds of the two houses in the Senate and House of Representatives are two-thirds.
“Let me say that Article 305 cited by the President is the principle of action.
“In what respect, he violated this part of the Constitution, he said the administrators he appointed could make regulations and would be made by the Federal Executive Committee.
“The Federal Executive Committee does not have such powers.
“Now President Tinubu has granted his own laws to the laws of the River Building.
“I don’t know if the National Assembly has the courage to reject his Gazette Declaration or to carry out his improvisation for violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Now, another relevant part of the Constitution is Article 188 of the Constitution, which illustrates how the governor is evacuated from the office.
“As you know, it is only in the declaration of the President of Nigeria that it cannot be removed from the office by the President of Nigeria, only in the House of Representatives that the serious misconduct was accused of, and then it is recommended to form a reasonable group of people, you know, you know, the state has outstanding qualities.
“If the panel now decides that within the authority of Article 180, these allegations are wrong, which makes the president not follow.
“He took a one-sided action.
“The 1999 Constitution does not stipulate that the President of Nigeria can unilaterally dismiss, dismiss, dismiss the Deputy Governor, and dismiss the Legislature of Nigeria.
“So, this proves again that this is an infringement of the Constitution.”
