Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Afam Osigwe, SAN, has reiterated his call for President Bola Tinubu to immediately rescind the suspension of Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, and members of the State House of Assembly, deeming the president’s actions unconstitutional.
In an interview with Channels TV, Osigwe emphasized that the Nigerian Constitution does not recognize the position of a sole administrator, rendering the appointment of Ibok-Ete Ibas invalid. “That is our belief, that is what we expect the president to do, to restore him [Fubara] back to power having unconstitutionally removed him,” he stated.
Osigwe further asserted, “Even when I saw him taking oath of office, I was wondering which oath he was taking because he was taking an oath not known to the constitution. The constitution does not recognise an administrator.”
He characterized the president’s approach to the Rivers State crisis as a “wrong solution” to a problem, likening it to using a “sledgehammer on his head because of a headache.” He argued that the measures taken “are overreaching, extensive, undemocratic, and, above all, unconstitutional.”
The NBA president maintained that the root of the Rivers State issue is political, requiring a political solution rather than the current legal and administrative intervention. He dismissed claims of constitutional ambiguity, asserting that Section 305 of the Constitution, which governs the declaration of a state of emergency, is “explicit and unambiguous.”
“I do not believe that it (Section 305) is not explicit, I simply believe that we deliberately refuse to apply it the way it is,” Osigwe stated.
He also criticized the National Assembly’s approval of the emergency rule, stating that it is akin to “placing something on nothing.”
