Abuja Lawyers Protest, Insist on Fubara’s Return Amid Emergency Rule Tensions

In Abuja, a group of attorneys representing Lawyers in Defense of Democracy have started a protest, calling for the reinstatement of democratic administration in Rivers State and the recall of Governor Siminalayi Fubara from his suspension.

This comes as the group has urged the US and the rest of the world to put pressure on President Bola Tinubu to reverse his decision to suspend Governor Fubara and the House of Assembly of Rivers State.

The country director of Lawyers in Defence of Democracy, Barr. Uchechukwu Udeh, emphasized that President Tinubu’s proclamation of a state of emergency in Rivers State “is unconstitutional and undermines democracy.”

The group encouraged US President Donald Trump to step in and exert pressure on the Nigerian government to reinstate democracy in Rivers State in a letter to the president.

They maintained that Governor Fubara’s and the state assembly’s suspensions are blatant attempts to subvert constitutional order.

Due process was not followed, the organization said, and President Tinubu’s action was obviously hurried.

Additionally, the attorneys denounced the National Assembly’s ratification of the President’s decision as an anomaly in democracy.

The organization therefore called on President Tinubu to change his mind and permit Governor Fubara to carry on serving as the state’s lawfully elected governor.

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We are at a crossroads, a grim moment of reckoning where constitutional order is being tested most shamelessly in a period where democracy is supposed to rule supremely and provide benefits to the public.

“By suspending a democratically elected governor, deputy governor, and whole State House of Assembly on the pretext of emergency rule, the President of Nigeria, who vowed to enforce the Constitution, has taken an unprecedented and illegal move.

What kind of emergency? The letter said, “Nigerians and Rivers people did not see or feel any such emergency.”

We maintain that no statute, constitutional clause, or established convention grants the president the authority to unilaterally disband the institutions of a state government that has been elected.

The only time this could have occurred was during the military junta era, but a military dictatorship is not currently in control of us.

“The president ought to have given the different state organs the opportunity to settle the disputes. It is unworthy that Osun State’s local government administration problem, which occurred until recently, did not result in a state of emergency proclamation.

“A constitutional democracy with a presidential system of government now governs the nation.

Since democracy is a learning process and the judiciary has proven its ability to resolve conflicts, the Lawyers in Defence of Democracy argued that President Tinubu shouldn’t have made the judgment. FINISH.