1

ABUJA – The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has con­demned the suspension and subsequent reinstate­ment of Rivers State gov­ernor, Siminalayi Fubara, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, describing the ac­tion as whimsically auto­cratic.

The party, which told President Tinubu that he has no power to fire and hire governors, added that the suspension of Fubara was self-serving and re­mains unconstitutional.

The ADC, in a statement by its spokesman, Bolaji Ab­dullahi, condemned the cav­alier manner by which Pres­ident Tinubu went about the suspension and subsequent­ly reinstatement.

The ADC said it was dis­mayed by President Tinu­bu’s attempt to disguise political brinkmanship as statesmanship, adding that his action in Rivers would define his political legacy.

The ADC said: “On Wednesday, September 17, Nigerians witnessed a cu­rious spectacle: President Tinubu directing the gov­ernor, deputy governor, and members of the state Assembly in Rivers State to ‘resume’ duties after serv­ing his six-month suspen­sion from office.

“The president’s deci­sion to arrogate himself the power to suspend and recall elected officials in Rivers State, as he had done, is whimsically autocratic and should be recognised and condemned as a threat to our democracy.

“The African Demo­cratic Congress (ADC) reiterates that what has happened in Rivers State over the last six months is a brazen manipulation of constitutional provisions to serve narrow political interests.”

The party said that it harbours no doubts that the situation that served as the pretext for the declaration of the state of emergency was a clear act of politi­cal contrivance that only demanded the president’s unbiased political interven­tion, adding, “Instead, the president chose to serve the will of demagogues in his government, deploying the power of the constitution to attack what he should have protected.

“For six long months, the will of the people of Rivers State was set aside. Their elected leaders were, in effect, put on suspension — not by a court of law, but by a president who himself was elected. Now, with the wave of a hand and the ink from his pen, the same pres­ident has decided to ‘allow’ other duly elected officials back to work, as though they were his political ap­pointees.

“Let us be clear: Gover­nors and legislators in a de­mocracy do not draw their legitimacy from Aso Rock. They derive it from the peo­ple who elected them. Only a competent court can re­move or restrain them — not a press statement or presidential proclamation. The president is not a head­master, and governors are not his pupils to be sent home and recalled at his discretion. Yet, we recall that this president once claimed to be a federalist who, as a state governor himself, fought to protect the relative autonomy of his state.

“However, with this ac­tion, the president and his men have achieved their goals — and that goal was not to ‘restore peace’ to Riv­ers State. They now have a thoroughly pacified govern­ment in Rivers State, which has learnt its hard lessons that its primary loyalty is not to the people of Rivers State, but to Abuja. More importantly, the Rivers ex­perience would now serve as a clear warning to other state governments in the country to ‘behave them­selves.’

“In keeping with their well-worn propaganda, presidential aides an­nounced that the president had cut short his vacation to attend to the worsening security situation in the country. This claim is in­deed laughable. But it is now made clear: the presi­dent did not return because Nigerians are being killed, or because life has become unbearable for the majority. He returned for one reason only — to personally over­see the return of Fubara to office and bask in the glory of the dictatorial powers that he had assumed for himself.”