Legal challenge questions constitutionality of suspending elected governor and appointing sole administrator
ABUJA — Lawyer Johnmary Jideobi has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to sack Rivers State Administrator Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas (rtd) and restrain President Bola Tinubu from interfering with state governance. The legal action challenges the constitutionality of suspending elected Governor Siminalayi Fubara and replacing him with an appointed administrator.
In the originating summons filed through his legal team led by Chimezie Enuka, Jideobi argued that “the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has NO constitutional authority to either remove, suspend or otherwise tamper with the tenure of a duly elected Governor and Deputy Governor of a State.” The plaintiff seeks multiple declarations from the court, including that the suspension of Rivers’ elected officials and appointment of an administrator are “unconstitutional, null and void.”
Jideobi’s affidavit states: “As a Nigerian Lawyer and all through my years of practice, I have never seen the word ‘Sole Administrator’ in the amended 1999 constitution.” He expressed concern that allowing such actions could “open the floodgate of anarchy capable of consuming this nation.”
The suit specifically asks the court to determine whether the President has constitutional authority to remove state governors under any circumstances beyond those outlined in Sections 180, 188, 189 and 306 of the 1999 Constitution. It seeks orders to immediately vacate Ibas from Government House and reinstate the elected officials.
No hearing date has been set for the case, which legal experts describe as a significant test of constitutional boundaries between federal and state powers. The plaintiff maintains the action was filed “in the public interest, in the defence of the Rule of Law and accentuation of the supremacy of the Constitution.”
