The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in a suit instituted by some state governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, challenging the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu.
A seven-man panel led by Justice John Inyang Okoro on Tuesday adjourned the matter after parties in the suit adopted their processes.
The plaintiffs in the suit are the Attorneys General of ten states, while the defendants are the Federal Government and the National Assembly.
At the beginning of the proceedings, the fifth plaintiff, Delta State, withdrew from the suit, a decision that was not opposed by counsel for the Federal Government, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, who represented the plaintiffs, while adopting his process before the court, noted that their case was not a denial of the President’s power to proclaim a state of emergency but a challenge to the extent to which the proclamation can affect the offices of the Governor, Deputy Governor, and the State House of Assembly.
The Attorney General of the Federation, Fagbemi, in his argument for the Federal Government, and in response to the court’s question on whether there was a threat in the process of the proclamation, stated that there was none and that the plaintiffs had not been able to prove otherwise.
He noted that Rivers State was engulfed in a crisis involving the governor and the executive, prompting the President’s action.
The senior lawyer also submitted that the Governor, his Deputy, and the State House of Assembly were not removed but suspended as part of extraordinary measures required to restore decorum in the state.
Finally, he stated that the President had no choice but a duty to act the way he did in declaring a state of emergency.
He therefore urged the apex court to dismiss the suit in its entirety.
Counsel for the National Assembly, Charles Yoila, aligned himself with the AGF’s submission and also urged the court to dismiss the case.
After listening to the parties, the apex court reserved judgment till a date to be communicated to them.
