Shettima
Vice-President Kashim Shettima may have stirred the hornet’s nest on Thursday when he argued that the president lacked powers to suspend an elected state governor.
Although he did not make any direct reference to the suspension of the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara,who was unilaterally suspended on March 28, this year, the experience he cited fitted Fubara’s case very well.
The Vice President, who spoke at the public presentation of “OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block,” a book written by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, held at the Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, on Thursday, cited his own experience in the hands of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, who wanted to remove him but for legal advice and the courage of Aminu Tambuwal, the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the time.
“Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was floating the idea of removing this Borno governor (pointing at himself), and Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, had the courage to tell the president: You don’t have the power to remove an elected councillor,” Shettima recalled.
“The president was still unconvinced, he mooted the idea at the Federal Executive Council, Mr Mohammed Adoke told the president: You do not have the power to remove a sitting governor.
“They sought the opinion of another SAN in the cabinet, Kabiru Turaki, who also said: I am of the candid opinion of my senior colleagues. That was how the matter was laid to rest.
“I want to thank you for the courage to forgive those who have offended you. In the last four years of the Jonathan government, I was the public enemy number one.”
Shettima’s open declaration underscores his disapproval of Tinubu’s act against the elected governor of Rivers State. Until now, he had refrained from saying anything about that development.
However, thas Presidency has denied that Shettima’s comments related to Fubara’s suspension.
Stanley Nkwocha, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), in a statement on Friday, described the report as a “densstiobsl reporting”, “gross misrepresentation” and “reckless endangerment of national cohesion.”
He argued that Shettima only acknowledged Adoke’s role as a public official, saying such did not amount to commentary on current political events.
“Some news outlets have irresponsibly twisted the Vice President’s account of how the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan floated the idea of removing him from office, then as governor of Borno State, in the most intense and critical phase of insurgency in the North East region of the country,” the statement said.
“The sensational reporting disappointingly tried to erect a highly mendacious argument about the state of emergency declared in Rivers State and the subsequent suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara by His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We wish to state categorically that Vice President Shettima’s comments were made within the specific context of acknowledging the author’s past professional conduct during his tenure as Attorney General of the Federation. His remarks were historical references to events that occurred during the Jonathan administration, and constituted nothing more than an intellectual discourse on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution.
“This rare moment of retrospection was purely illustrative, intended to demonstrate how our constitutional democracy has matured within the capacity to resolve complex federal-state tensions through established legal mechanisms.”
