A Kano-based human rights lawyer, Abba Hikima, has condemned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, calling it unconstitutional and politically motivated.
In a press release on Tuesday, Hikima argued that there is no such thing as a authorized foundation for suspending elected officers, together with the governor, deputy governor, and state lawmakers, below Nigeria’s legal guidelines on the proclamation of a state of emergency.
He cited judicial precedents that prohibit such actions, asserting that the president is totally conscious of those authorized restrictions.
“There may be nothing in Nigerian legislation or the observe of proclaiming a state of emergency that empowers the president to droop a democratically elected governor, deputy governor, and all the members of a state’s Home of Meeting. There are a number of judicial precedents that outrightly prohibit such actions, and the president is just not unaware of them,” Hikima said.
He accused the authorities of intentionally violating the legislation to place their opponents at an obstacle, forcing them into extended authorized battles with unsure outcomes.
“In Nigeria at present, these in authority intentionally violate the legislation to put their weaker victims at a extreme drawback, forcing them to navigate unsure authorized battles. After countless judicial gymnastics, if they’re fortunate, they might safe a judgment they might by no means be capable of implement,” he lamented.
Hikima argued that Rivers State doesn’t meet the constitutional situations for a state of emergency, mentioning that there was no precise breakdown of legislation and order requiring extraordinary federal intervention.
He in contrast the scenario to a number of northern states going through worse safety crises, but no emergency measures have been taken in these areas.
“There isn’t a precise breakdown of legislation and public order requiring extraordinary federal intervention to justify the imposition of a state of emergency. For my part, a number of states in northern Nigeria presently expertise even worse public safety conditions, but the president has not seen a purpose to declare a state of emergency there. This isn’t to say he ought to have, however quite that the case of Rivers State is unfair, unwarranted, and politically motivated,” he argued.
The lawyer additionally criticized the president’s resolution to nominate a sole administrator in Rivers State, calling it a contradiction of democratic governance.
“The president, in his speech, acknowledged that no authorities can operate with out all its arms, but he went on to nominate a sole administrator to function each lawmaker and executor. It is a clear contradiction. It’s fully inconsistent with the spirit of Nigeria’s authorized and political system,” he mentioned.
Hikima urged the Nationwide Meeting to reject the president’s transfer, warning that approving the emergency declaration would set a harmful precedent.
“The Nationwide Meeting, being presently in session—although regrettably weak—is nonetheless referred to as upon to withstand approving this brazen constitutional overreach, which might set one more dangerous precedent and additional erode Nigeria’s fragile democracy. The NASS can, inside 48 hours, spare Nigeria this embarrassment, because the state of emergency can solely take impact after it’s authorised by each homes of the Nationwide Meeting with a two-thirds majority,” he mentioned.
The publish Human Rights Lawyer: Tinubu’s Emergency Declaration in Rivers Unconstitutional, Political appeared first on Kano Occasions.
