Fubara remains Rivers Gov, PDP insists

…urges NASS to revoke Tinubu’s declaration

By Tunde Opalana

The Peoples Democratic Party has insisted that Sir. Siminalayi Fubara remains the governor of Rivers State.

The party reiterated its rejection of the declaration of state of emergency by President Bola Tinubu categorically stating that “the purported suspension of Governor Fubara cannot stand. It is unconstitutional, impracticable and invalid”.

Spokesperson of the PDP addressed the press at the Wadata Plaza party secretariat after an emergency meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) on Wednesday.

“Yesterday, we issued a statement rejecting the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State and we stand by it.

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“The purported suspension of Governor Fubara cannot stand. It is unconstitutional, impracticable, invalid and completely out of the question as no provision of the Constitution empowers the President to dismantle a sub-national government or suspend a democratically elected State governor under any situation whatsoever.

“Governor Fubara under the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) remains the elected Governor of Rivers State.

“The PDP urges the military and other agencies to be on the side of the law and restrict themselves to their constitutional role of defending democratic rule and the Constitution”, he said.

According to the PDP, President Tinubu violated the constitution by ordering that the proclamation of State of Emergency in Rivers State should take immediate effect without the approval of the National Assembly which is a precondition for the commencement of a state of emergency.

He said “President Tinubu violated Section 217 (2)(c) by seeking to dismantle instead of aiding the civil authority.

“Assuming without conceding that there was a breakdown of law and order in Rivers State, the President is only required under Section 217 (2)(c) to aid civil authorities to restore order; the civil authorities in Rivers State are the Governor, Deputy Governor and the State House of Assembly.

“The President cannot under the Constitution attempt to dismantle the civil authority he is required to aid.

“What President Tinubu is attempting to do is to suspend the 1999 Constitution, overturn a democratic government and foist an undemocratic regime in Nigeria in gross violation of Sections 1 (2), 14(2)(a), 180, 217(2)(b) (c) and 305 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)”.

Dissecting the constitutional provisions, the party said “Section 1 Sub-section 2 provides; “The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any person or group of persons take control of the government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution”.

“The Constitution does not empower the President to dismantle a tier of Government, or appoint a sole administrator to take office as State Governor or to override the duties of the State Assembly under any situation.

“Section 14 (2)(a) “Sovereignly belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this constitution derives all its powers and authority”

“This Constitutional Sovereignty is exercisable by the people through their elected representatives including State governors and State legislators. The President therefore has no powers whatsoever to override this Sovereignty under any guise.

“Section 180 of the 1999 Constitution is clear on the tenure of a State Governor, which is prescribed as four years commencing from the date of the swearing in. the only means provided for in the constitution for the abridgment of the tenure of a governor is death, resignation, incapacitation or impeachment and not by suspension by the President.

“Section 305 (2) provides that “The President shall immediately after the publication, transmit copies of the Official Gazette of the Government of the Federation containing the proclamation including the details of the emergency to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, each of whom shall forthwith convene or arrange for a meeting of the House of which he is President or Speaker, as the case may be, to consider the situation and decide whether or not to pass a resolution approving the proclamation”.

The PDP called on the National Assembly to invoke its legislative power with regard to this constitutional breach.

It said Section 217 (2)(c) empowers the deployment of the of the armed forces to; “Suppressing insurrection and acting in aid of civil authorities to restore Order when called upon to do so by the President but subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by an act of the National Assembly.

Speaking on the revocation of title documents of it’s national secretariat complex, the PDP sait it is an illegal attempt by the APC-administration to revoke the National Secretariat of the PDP.

On the revocation of Certificate of Occupancy, Ologunagba said
there’s a pending court case as to the ownership of the property and the suit number of that case is CV 1363-17.

“It was in 2017 between Nicon Insurance Limited, and here are the defendants: The Ministry of Federal Capital Territory is the first defendant in that case. The other defendant is Peoples Democratic Party. There’s a pending action in which the minister is a party and he is revoking the same property to which he is a defendant in the court case. That sounds curious, isn’t it? Here’s the document.

“The last adjournment was February the 10th. They were in court. The minister was represented by his lawyers, about a month ago. This on the same property that you are purportedly revoking in which you are a party.

And that tells you that it is not just about revocation, it’s about other things beyond revocation, about some issues that are mentioned there. The next adjournment is May 5th. So it’s an ongoing case.”