Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has taken a swipe at President Bola Ahmed Tinubu following the announcement of the cessation of the suspension placed on Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and members of the State House of Assembly.
On his X page on Thursday, Atiku dismissed the development as a hollow gesture that does nothing to cure what he described as an illegal and unconstitutional action carried out six months ago. He said, “Lifting the suspension of Governor Simi Fubara is nothing to cheer about”. The suspension of the Rivers State Governor and the State House of Assembly was unconstitutional when it was done six months ago and is still illegal today. President Tinubu had no power to suspend a democratically elected governor and state lawmakers. The Rivers shenanigans only signpost the dictatorship of the Tinubu administration.”
According to the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, the Nigerian constitution does not vest the President with the authority to remove or suspend an elected governor or lawmakers. Such actions, he argued, undermine the very foundation of the nation’s democracy. Atiku stressed that if the rule of law must prevail, all branches of government must respect the limits of their powers. For him, Tinubu’s intervention in Rivers State politics, though now reversed, remains a dangerous precedent.
Recall that on Wednesday, President Tinubu formally lifted the suspension and reinstated Governor Fubara alongside the Assembly, a move the Presidency framed as an effort to “restore democratic order” and stabilise the oil-rich state. But Atiku insists the gesture is meaningless, since the action should never have happened in the first place. “You cannot cure an illegality with another illegality,” he noted.
