… wants Tinubu to restore Fubara, other elected officials of the suspended rivers
The former governor of the state of Kaduna and head of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Nasir El-Rufai, has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reconsider his decision to suspend elected officials in his declaration of emergency rules in the state of the rivers.
Tribune online He informs that the president, during a national transmission on Tuesday, declared an emergency state in the rivers for a prolonged political crisis and at the same time suspended the governor, Siminalayi Fubara; his deputy; and members of the State Assembly.
The-Rufai, in a statement published through his personnel X on Wednesday, said the action was incorrect, adding that the justifications convened by the government led by Tinubu in his defense fell.
According to the former governor, who recently defected from the ruling of all progressive congresses (APC), the Nigeria Constitution supports said suspension by the president, saying: “It is dangerous for our democratic federalism system that an elected president assumed and exercises powers to suspend elected officials at the state level.”
Although he acknowledges that the security problems cited by Tinubu in his national transmission deserve more attention and sustained efforts to contain threats and preserve the vital national infrastructure, the-Rufai postulated that the military could have been supported to offer said responsibility with success through an emergency state that does not require elected officials.
He said: “There are things that are so clearly incorrect that the justifications convened in their defense agree. The decision of Mr. President to suspend the elected officials of the Government of the State of Rivers is one of the Constitution. The Constitution and the Law and certainly do not include the people who were elected.
“The security problems cited in the president's speech surely deserve the most serious attention and the efforts to contain threats and preserve the vital national infrastructure. That is a duty that we should strongly support security agencies so that they are successfully discharged. An emergency state has surely been proclaimed to grant the relevant regiment of relevant security agencies. necessary for the problem to be addressed.
Continuing, El-Rufai reminded the president who was once critical of the administration led by former President Goodluck Jonathan when he declared an emergency state in the Northeast.
According to him, Tinubu criticized Jonathan even when the latter did not suspend the elected officials in those states.
“It is my view that Mr. President Should Review This Decision and Return to the Path of Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law. As An Opposition Figure, Senator Bola Tinubu Had Made HIS VOIC North-East, Even when Decision Did not extend to the suspension of elected officias and institutions.
“We do not keep silent while the slippery of replicating the events of the emergency rule in the old Western region in 1962 develops before our own eyes. I appeal to all patriots and voices of reasons to join to call at the end of this serious violation of the Constitution and the lack of respect for the government of the law,” said El-Rufai.
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