No more argument; the President has all powers

Following the application of the State of Emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the charade endorsement by the National Assembly, the public response has been loud – the President’s action is illegal.  Indeed, the SoE debacle fits the public narrative of the President, his party, and his advisers. That narrative, which is to crush any form of opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections, is deafening. 

I hope the President can redeem himself.

The supporters of the President, his party, and advisers think differently. They argue that there is a near breakdown of law in Rivers State, and trace this to the intransigence of Governor Fubara. According to them, there are a million and one things Governor Fubara could have done differently, which often points to him been totally and unequivocally subservient to his benefactor and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

This is the stalemate, and that will remain for a while. What bothers me is how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the ones before him are only quick to provide and implement State of Emergency options when it threatens them and not when it threatens the future of Nigeria.

If the President has the powers to apply State of Emergency to a political problem that has implications for his 2027 second term bid, why has the President not applied the same urgency and pressure on governors after the greatest transfer of wealth from the private sector to the public sector through his removal of petroleum subsidy programme? After all, it is obvious that most of those resources have been wasted. 

Why is the President so quick to apply SoE in Rivers while Fulani herders are rampaging farms and killing farmers in Ondo and Bayelsa States. As shared by Nextier, Nigeria’s foremost security think tank, these are the latest States affected by this lingering conflict, while the North Central States have borne the brunt for a long time. While many lives are lost, it is obvious that it does not yet meet the criteria for SoE with the President and his advisers.

Just recently, there was a crisis in the Lagos State Assembly. The Speaker was removed while out of the country. The police and military were called in at a point. While this crisis lasted, there was no legislative activity in the State. However, the President did not deem it fit to declare a State of emergency. Instead, the President recognized he needed the “graveyard peace” in the State ahead of 2027 and called everyone to Abuja and sorted the matter. 

So, the question is whether the President’s powers to declare a state of emergency does not include or extend to good governance in the States? 

The President cannot see trouble in Rivers State and pretend not to see that most of the governors have wasted most of the resources from the removal of subsidies. In the same States, public primary and secondary education has collapsed, threatening the future of skills and education in Nigeria, while there is concentration on the absurd daily addition to the number of higher education institutions in the country. The President has evoked emergency powers to remove a Governor, but the same President has not used emergency powers to deal with the Oronsanye report that they promised us over a year ago. 

Finally, in all of this, I find the current National Assembly most reprehensible. I suppose it is lost on them that the crisis in Rivers State is because the Governor does not have any sort of control over the legislative members in the State. The Godswill Akpabio and Tajudeen Abbas led National assembly are not even pretending that they do not have their own minds even in the most delicate of national issues. The President already declared a State of emergency before bringing the matter to the National Assembly. Even after that, there was no semblance of debate, nor their pretence whether there was a quorum. 

It’s a joke.

In conclusion, everything that has been said about the powers and responsibilities of a governor has fallen to pieces with the declaration of the State of emergency in Rivers State. It is now clear to everyone that the President has the powers to do good, bad, ugly, shameful, for the people or simply focus on building his coalition for 2027. 

I thank you.