President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, March 18, declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, suspended the governor, his deputy and the state House of Assembly for six months. In this interview with ISAAC SHOBAYO, the former Minister of Youth and Sport, Mr Solomon Dalung, who is also a legal practitioner, speaks on development and other topical political issues in the country. Excerpts:
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has declared a state of emergency in Rivers State as a result of the political crisis rocking the state. There have been mixed feelings over the president’s declaration. What is your thought on this?
Well, the declaration of a state of emergency by the president is covered by Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. It provides that the president can declare a state of emergency in extreme situations to save the country, whether from war, a national health challenge, or personal aggression. The president will do that and deposit the Gazette before the National Assembly.
So he has powers under the 1999 Constitution to declare a state of emergency. The governor himself can also invite the president to declare a state of emergency in his state. So, it is a constitutionally recognised responsibility of the president. But the question here is whether the president has the power to dissolve democracy. The answer is a capital NO. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo attempted that in Plateau State, and he was taken to court by former Governor Joshua Dariye, and the Supreme Court annulled the removal of the governor from office. He also did that in Ekiti, where he removed Fayose. It was challenged, and the Supreme Court maintained its position. The same happened in the case of Ladoja. So, there are enough judicial decisions for the Attorney General to have guided the president.
President Goodluck Jonathan demonstrated what a state of emergency means because he declared a state of emergency in three states—Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa. The present vice-president, was the governor of Borno then. He was not removed from office. So, I am surprised that Shettima is in this government and we have Fagbemi as the Attorney General. Yet the president imagines that he has the power to sack someone he did not appoint. The governor was elected by the people of Rivers State, and the provision for how to remove a governor is very clear in Section 188. So where did the president derive this power? I think it is a serious threat to democracy and national peace and security.
In the face of the lawlessness in Rivers State, what do you think the government ought to have done to save the situation instead of declaring a state of emergency?
It is not about what the president was supposed to have done; it has been done before. President Jonathan, in exercising his powers under Section 305, imposed a state of emergency on Yobe, Borno, and Adamawa, but the governors were left in office. He has no power to remove them. He can impose and roll in soldiers to restore peace and order. The power of the chief security officer will be taken over under Section 305, vested in the president; he will appoint a military commander to go in there and restore peace and order. But he has no power to sack the governor. The governor is elected just like he was elected.
So when I listened to his broadcast, my BP [blood pressure] went up. I mean, in the 21st century, I think he overreached his powers, and the National Assembly should [have rejected] that and gone with the judicial decisions that the president can declare a state of emergency, but he has no power to dissolve the parliament or sack the governor in any circumstance.
If he claimed that he advised them, that he spoke with the parties in the dispute and they did not listen to him, then why has he suspended only the governor but not Wike? Why didn’t he first suspend Wike, who is a major actor in the Rivers crisis? His inability to suspend Wike while sitting with him at the Federal Executive Council suggests that he is bias.
When two of your children are fighting and you come in and say, ‘oh! This one, the mother is the first wife I married. So I am tired of her. You sack the children, but the children of your new wife, you are romancing with them. That’s very selfish. Such a person should not exercise the power of the Republic of Nigeria.
Now that state of emergency has been declared. Do you think this can resolve the political impasse?
All he needed to do—if he had engaged me as a consultant—I would have advised him to allow the governor to keep courting the members of the House of Assembly and get the judiciary in his favour. Let the governor be impeached. That is what the constitution says. But for him to behave the way he has now, it has stripped him naked. The things that happened in Rivers—are they justifiable reasons to exercise his powers of a state of emergency? They have been killing people in Zamfara. They have kidnapped an entire village. Has he declared a state of emergency? They killed a first-class Emir in Sokoto. He was kidnapped for 21 days before he was killed by bandits. Villages have been sacked. Women have been raped in the presence of their children. Has he declared a state of emergency?
Why has he failed to declare a state of emergency in Katsina, where the former Director-General of NYSC was kidnapped and had spent 40 days with the bandits? Is that not enough reason? A former NYSC DG, a military general! Why didn’t president declare a state of emergency there? Why hasn’t he declared a state of emergency in Niger State, where villages have been sacked and people are being killed in their hundreds? Why hasn’t he declared one in the South-East, where criminal gangs have taken over entire states, imposed their will, and declared sit-at-home orders on Mondays, killing people who refused? Why didn’t he declare one there? In Plateau, where people were being killed—if insecurity is the issue—did he declare a state of emergency? In Benue, where they killed and kidnapped even a clergy, did he declare one? Why Rivers? He went to Rivers because Wike—his army—has been disgraced by the people of Rivers. They rejected him, and he wants to smuggle Wike through the backdoor. It will never happen. It will never work in Nigeria. Even those of us who do not love the governor are now his best supporters, standing with the people of Rivers in this trying time. We will not allow a president to destroy a state because of Wike.
Some analysts are of the opinion that the happenings in Rivers State are a grand plan towards 2027. Do you subscribe to this assertion?
I agree with those who are insinuating that it is 2027 in action. If it were not so, why did the president abandon the lawful options and embark on an unlawful option? Rivers is a very strategic political community in Nigeria; their democracy is important in determining who becomes the president of Nigeria.
Having lost Rivers to Fubara, who has now refused to do the bidding of his godfather, the president knows that his stronghold has been reducing because Kano is out, Rivers is out, and Lagos is very, very shaky with recent developments. So, no doubt, 2027 is in focus.
The PDP that is supposed to serve as a vibrant opposition to the ruling party is in crisis, likewise the Labour Party. So, at the moment, no formidable opposition party to checkmate the APC …
(Cuts in) Well, the opposition against Tinubu’s government is not about political parties. The opposition is the Nigerian people. The president has, right from day one, declared war against the Nigerian people with his policies. If you look at his withdrawal of the fuel subsidy, his increase in electricity tariffs, and even the current tax reform bill, the president has been waging war against the common people. In his last presidential media chat, he said he has no regrets whatsoever, even though his policies are inflicting hardship on Nigerians.
If these policies are meant to build a better future for Nigerians while people are dying of hunger now, who are those that will benefit from this renewal? There must be Nigerians before Nigeria. So I think the president himself does not need a strong opposition to fight him. Nigerians are the strongest opposition against Tinubu, and they are not going to defeat his government through any strong political opposition. No, they are going to defeat his government using any platform where they see a credible leader, and they will sack him.
Do you think the realignment of some political force in the North against President Tinubu is justifiable?
You see, there is no political realignment so far in the North as far as I know. What I do know is that those who campaigned for Tinubu and whom he disappointed by way of patronage have decided to abandon him and move to a different political party. That cannot be called a realignment. He inflicted injury on his ardent supporters, and they left him. The North is always referenced in political discussions because the North is the determining factor in who becomes the president of Nigeria. So, each time people want to blackmail them, they just cook up something and hang it on the North.
But what I know about what is happening in the North is that this government, which rode on a Muslim-Muslim ticket, has lost support among Northern Muslims. The majority of Northern Muslims who supported the ticket, having been hoodwinked by religious bigotry, have now rejected it—not because they are not benefiting. No. The highest beneficiaries of Tinubu’s government are Northern Muslims. They occupy key positions, from the NSA to ministers. So they have no reason to reject Tinubu based on appointments.
But they are rejecting Tinubu because he made the worst mistake in history. If you weaponise hunger and poverty against Northerners, they will not forgive you. Even if you go and invent a verse in the Qur’an or the Bible, they will not forgive you. It is an unpardonable sin—not because of anything else but because he weaponised poverty, hunger, and insecurity. The Northerners, who are farmers, cannot farm. They cannot go to their farms. They are being kidnapped in their homes; their women and daughters are being raped. Yet the national security adviser is from the North, and key figures in the government are Northerners.
The Northerners are saying that they will use their political strength to discipline Tinubu for using hunger and poverty to punish Nigerians while buying an aircraft for himself, building a ₦21 billion house for his deputy and buying Cadillac for himself. The Northerners will punish him for that offence.
(Nigerian Tribune)
