Emergency Rule: Lawyers call on US, international community to intervene in Fubara’s suspension
Emergency Rule: Lawyers call on US, international community to intervene in Fubara’s suspension
By Idun Maximus
The dust is yet to settle on the emergency rule in Rivers State as a group of Nigerian lawyers has called on the United States and the international community to pressure the Nigerian government to rescind its decision to suspend Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the House of Assembly of the oil-rich state.
AbeyaNews reports that in a protest march to the US embassy in Abuja, Wednesday, the group, under the auspices of Lawyers in Defence for Democracy, claimed that the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu is unconstitutional and undermines democracy.
The lawyers, led by their Country Director, Barr Uche Chukwu Udeh Sylvester, described the suspension of Governor Fubara and the state assembly as a brazen attempt to undermine constitutional order.
In a letter to President Donald Trump, they urged him to intervene and pressure the Nigerian government to restore democratic rule in Rivers State. The lawyers also condemned the National Assembly for ratifying the president’s decision, describing it as an assault on democracy.
They urged President Tinubu to reconsider his stand and allow Governor Fubara to continue his work as democratically elected governor of the state.
“In an era where democracy is supposed to reign supreme, giving democracy dividends to the masses, we have found ourselves at a crossroads, a sober moment of reckoning where constitutional order is being tested most brazenly,” the letter said.
“The president, who swore to uphold the Constitution, has taken a most unprecedented and unlawful step with the suspension of a democratically elected governor, deputy governor, and an entire state House of Assembly under the guise of emergency rule. What emergency? Nigerians and Rivers people did not see or feel any such emergency.
“In our law books, and we stand by this, no constitutional provision, statute or any known convention gives the president the powers to single-handedly dissolve the structures of an elected state government.
“This could only have happened during the days of military juntas, but we are not under the firm grip of a military dictatorship. At the moment, the country is being governed under a constitutional democracy that operates a presidential system of government.
“President Bola Tinubu should not have taken the decision because democracy is a learning process, and the judiciary has demonstrated the capability to resolve issues. The President should have allowed the various state organs to resolve the issues. It is not worthy that until recently, there was a crisis of local government administration in Osun State, which has not led to a declaration of a state of emergency.”
