Amid the euphoria in some quarters over the lifting of state of emergency in Rivers State, human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, senior advocate of Nigeria, (SAN) says the development does not call for celebration and challenged the court to determine the circumstances under which the Constitution empowered the President to sack democratically elected public office holders in the country.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that President Bola Tinubu restored democratic governance in Rivers State on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, after six months of emergency rule proclaimed on March 18, 2025, leading to the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, and the state lawmakers, as well as the dissolution of elected local government administrations against protestations by legal experts who described the president’s action as unconstitutional and illegal.
Speaking on Thursday on Channels Television, Adegboruwa insisted that the suspension of Fubara and the State House of Assembly was illegal from the onset, and as such, their reinstatement did not erase the constitutional breaches and abuse of power that occurred.
Adegboruwa said, Section 305 has become a controversial section inserted in the Constitution, especially in terms of the powers granted to the President.
According to him, “When there is a need to declare a state of emergency, the consequential powers to be exercised by the President must be stated definitely.
“If people exercise their mandate to elect others into office, as they did to Siminalayi Fubara and all the members of the House of Assembly, it is a sacred mandate that should be preserved at all costs.
“So, if there is a reason for a single individual, such as the President – with all due respect – to interfere with that mandate, the circumstances should be spelt out within the Constitution – whether it will be extended to removing those that were elected by the people.
“And I think that’s the area of the controversy – whether the President should have sacked the governor, whether he should have suspended, as it were, all democratically elected officers of Rivers State in the course of this crisis. Those are matters that the court must determine one way or the other, and I think it’s one of the lessons we must take from this exercise”.
Positing that Nigerians should be alarmed that a democratically elected governor could be removed by presidential fiat, he warned that the development signposts the creeping dictatorship of the Tinubu administration.
According to him, “I do not see any cause for celebration in any way”.
