A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Abiodun Jelili, while weighing in on the Rivers State crisis has asserted that presidential powers include the ability to remove state governors who endanger law and order.
In an interview with Arise TV from 15:57, he addressed the constitutional framework directly: “On the question of whether the president can suspend a governor. The president can suspend a governor who is the source of threat to Law and Order within a state.”
The legal expert highlighted an often-overlooked constitutional provision: “Because what the constitution has done is in Section 5 subsection 3 people have not read this Section 5 sub 3 of The Constitution. It says that the executive power of a governor of a state shall be exercised in such a way as not to impede or Prejudice the exercise of the federal power.”
Applying this principle to the current situation, he cited judicial precedent: “In the case of rivers going by the Judgment of Supreme Court saying that there is no government in River State because the two arms of government were no longer functioning as required by law. The president does not require much more than that.”
He drew an important distinction between different types of crises: “There’s a difference between Law and Order and security. Where the conduct of governance is in breach of Law and Order, even if there’s no breach of security it potent a big danger.”
He concluded by highlighting the practical governance concerns in Rivers state and how it has facilitated the state of emergency: “For instance transactions have been going on for the past one and a half years in rivers appropriation was not done. Contracts were awarded. And if at the end of the day the determination of whether government was functioning legally were to go against the state what happens to all those decisions that would have been taken in the last one and a half years. It is a serious matter.”
