The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has described the Supreme Court’s judgment affirming the President’s power to suspend elected governors and state assemblies during a state of emergency as a dangerous turning point for Nigeria’s democracy.
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement on Tuesday, warned that the ruling risks undermining constitutional governance, federalism, and the will of the electorate.
The Supreme Court judgment, delivered on Monday, arose from a suit instituted in April by governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The governors challenged the legality of President Bola Tinubu’s decision to suspend the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, alongside his deputy, Professor Ngozi Odu, and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, amid a prolonged political crisis in the state.
Following the suspension, the President appointed a retired naval officer, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, to serve as Sole Administrator of Rivers State for a six-month period, effectively placing the administration of the state under federal control in the absence of its elected leadership.
At the time the emergency measures were imposed, Governor Fubara was a member of the PDP.
This development prompted PDP governors across the country to approach the courts, arguing that the Federal Government’s actions violated constitutional provisions and undermined the autonomy of elected state governments.
Although the Supreme Court delivered its ruling nearly three months after the emergency rule expired on September 23, by which time the suspended officials had resumed their constitutional responsibilities, the apex court nonetheless affirmed that the President possesses the constitutional power to declare a state of emergency and to suspend elected state officials during such a period.
Reacting, the coalition party warned that the ruling effectively concentrates excessive authority in the hands of the President and poses a significant threat to Nigeria’s democratic framework.
It stated, “The African Democratic Congress is alarmed by the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which grants the President the power to suspend elected governors and state assemblies during a state of emergency. Although the ruling appears innocuously academic, it represents a potential inflexion point in our democratic development, one that may alter the nature of our democracy forever.
“According to the Supreme Court judgment, the President has the discretion to determine the measures required to restore peace and security after declaring a state of emergency in any state. In essence, the President may take any extraordinary measures if, in his opinion, such measures are necessary to restore peace in that state.
“The obvious implication of this position by the apex court is that the President of Nigeria, or his agents, could easily contrive a security situation in any state whose governor is deemed unfriendly and proceed to suspend both the Governor and the State House of Assembly. Although the same judgment notes that the Constitution provides that no arm or tier of government is constitutionally superior to another, the clear effect of the ruling suggests the opposite and grants the President firm control over the political conduct of state governors.
“The ADC, therefore, considers this judgment an extremely dangerous threat to Nigeria’s federalism and democracy. The grave risk inherent in this judgment becomes even more apparent when the safeguards identified by the apex court as checks against abuse of presidential discretion are examined. These safeguards include proportionality, legislative oversight, and judicial review.”
The ADC stated that in the face of a President allegedly prepared to go to any length to retain power, including crushing opposition parties, the principle of proportionality becomes unrealistic.
It continued, “Secondly, with the President’s effective conquest of the National Assembly, and a legislature that has shamefully reduced itself to a mere appendage of the Presidency, legislative oversight is equally implausible.
“Finally, on judicial review, this very judgment has settled any doubt as to the nature of review that is now possible, when the highest court in the land chooses to prioritise the letter of the law over its spirit, a spirit expressly intended to prevent the very danger the Court has now sanctioned.
“With this form of judicial review, the Supreme Court has inadvertently aided the imposition of constitutional tyranny on Nigeria, a dangerous form of autocracy in which those in power exploit legal frameworks and constitutional loopholes to accumulate and entrench absolute authority.
“The ADC wishes to warn Nigerians that constitutional tyranny does not always arrive through military coups. It often advances gradually, as rulers steadily erode democratic norms and institutions, precisely as we have witnessed over the past two years. What has now become painfully clear is that neither the legislature nor the judiciary can be relied upon to halt this descent.”
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