A legal battle has emerged over President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State.
This is as a group of citizens has taken him and other government officials to court, challenging the decision to suspend elected state leaders and appoint a sole administrator.
The lawsuit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja by lawyer Daniel Wariboko on behalf of himself and other registered voters in Rivers State, questions the constitutionality of the president’s actions.
It argues that a political dispute between the governor and the state assembly does not justify emergency rule under Nigeria’s Constitution.
President Tinubu had, on Tuesday, suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and members of the state legislature, appointing retired Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas as sole administrator. The National Assembly ratified the decision on Thursday.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to overturn the emergency rule, reinstate the suspended officials, and bar the president from appointing sole administrators in any state.
They also seek to prevent the National Assembly from approving similar suspensions in the future, arguing that the move violates democratic principles and citizens’ rights under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.