OPINION: Rescind State of Emergency in Rivers State
By James Ebri
Former National Vice Chairman South-South, Democratic Front for a People's Federation (DFPF), and former governorship candidate in Cross River state, Comrade James D. Ebri, has appealed to the President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately rescind the decision imposing a State of emergency in Rivers State and the accompanying suspension of the Governor and his Deputy.
Also to rescind the suspension of the Members of the Rivers House of Assembly.
According to him, "the call to rescind "the state of emergency" is necessitated by the fact that the basic requirements for the declaration of a state of emergency were not met when it was declared".
Ebri noted that "first among the requirements for the declaration of the emergency is the consent of both the House of Assembly and the Governor of the State which in this instant case was not sought".
"It is this consent or lack of it that needs to be submitted to the National Assembly as the basis of the request by the President to declare the State of Emergency which the National Assembly needs to consider before approving or rejecting the approval of the state of emergency. Section 305(4) of the Constitution states as follows:"
"The Governor of a state may with the sanction of a resolution supported by two thirds majority of the House of Assembly request the President to issue a proclamation of a state of emergency in the state when there is in existence within the state of the situation specified in Section (3), (c), (d) and (e) of this section and such situation does not extend beyond the boundaries of the state ". It goes further in subsection (5) to say " The President shall not issue a proclamation of a state of emergency in any case when the provisions of subsection (4) of this apply unless the Governor of the State fails within a reasonable time to make a request to the President to issue such a proclamation ".
He further said that"fhis shows clearly that for any proclamation to be made the State Assembly and the Governor must initiate the state of emergency. It would therefore be unconstitutional for the President to unilaterally impose a State of Emergency and remove an elected Governor and Legislators".
"Section 11 of the Constitution also dwells on the issue of the House of Assembly not being able to carry out its duties. Section 11 sub-section (4) says that " Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as conferring on the National Assembly power to remove the Governor or the Deputy Governor of the State from office", he added.
Ebri said "these provisions in the constitution were made so that the President or the National Assembly assembly will not have the powers to remove duly elected officials like themselves, or declare State of Emergency in states which are not so friendly with the center government".
Therefore, he said, "the declaration of State of Emergency is a very serious issue which requires the highest level of transparency. It is therefore very important for the citizens to know how they voted as it is done the world over, but not by voice vote. It is not contestable that the Attorney General of the Federation gave wrong advice to the President".
According to him, "based on the above reasons I wish to advice the President to return the Governor to office as soon as possible and not allow the case to be adjudicated in court so that it does not convey the inappropriate message or impression that the Federal government is lawless and does not obey the Constitution which is the grand norm of the country".
