President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in the political crisis rocking Rivers State seems to have sparked new waves of controversy.
In fact, to many, the president only succeeded in adding more fuel to an already burning fire.
Since his intervention in the crisis, President Tinubu has left himself in the middle of heavy controversy, to crown it all, he has been dragged to the Federal High Court in Abuja by six elders in Rivers State.
The elders dragged Tinubu to court for compelling Governor Siminilaya Fubara to enter an unconstitutional agreement.
The plaintiffs, led by a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly representing Bonny Constituency, Victor Jumbo, include:
Senator Bennett Birabi
Senator Andrew Uchendu
Rear Admiral O. P. Fingesi
Ann Kio Briggs and
Emmanuel Deinma
Illegal Agreement
They maintained that the said agreement, which was signed on December 18, was not only illegal but amounted to usurpation and nullification.
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To them, such is undermining the extant/binding relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Consequently, they prayed the court to, among other things, determine whether Tinubu, Fubara, and the Rivers State Assembly had the right and are entitled to enter into any agreement that has the effect of nullifying or undermining the constitutional/legal potency of the provisions of Section 109(I)(g) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Statutory Power
They contended that neither Tinubu nor Governor Fubara had the statutory powers to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from conducting fresh elections to replace the 27 Rivers State lawmakers.
The lawmakers defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu was cited as the first defendant in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1718/2023.
Others are:
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Governor Fubara, the Rivers Assembly, Speaker of the Rivers State Assembly and the chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
