Former Kaduna Central Senator Shehu Sani has reacted to the Supreme Court judgment upholding the President’s power to declare emergency rule and suspend elected officials.
The Supreme Court had upheld the power of the President to declare a state of emergency in any state to prevent a breakdown of law and order or degeneration into a state of chaos or anarchy.
In a landmark six-to-one split decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the President has the authority to suspend elected officials during a state of emergency, provided such suspensions are for a strictly limited duration.
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Justice Mohammed Idris, delivering the majority judgment, explained that Section 305 of the Constitution allows the President to take “extraordinary measures” to restore order.
He noted that because the law does not define the specific nature of these measures, the President is granted the discretion to decide how to handle the emergency.
The ruling addressed a lawsuit brought by Adamawa State and 10 other PDP-led states, which challenged the legality of President Bola Tinubu’s emergency declaration in Rivers State.
Read Also: Split Decision As Supreme Court Rules On President’s Power To Suspend Governor, Other Elected Officials During Emergency Rule
That move had resulted in the six-month suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and other elected leaders.
Justice Idris initially struck out the suit, ruling that the plaintiff states failed to provide a valid reason to activate the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction, but he also reviewed the case on its merits before officially dismissing it.
However, the decision was not unanimous. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Obande Ogbuinya argued that the case should have partially succeeded.
He maintained that while the President can declare a state of emergency, that power does not legally extend to removing or suspending democratically elected governors, their deputies, or members of parliament.
Sani took to popular social media platform X to react to the decision of the Apex Court.
He wrote on X: The Supreme Court ruling that empowers the President to declare emergency rule and suspend Governors can be used both to save democracy or to destroy it,all depending on the exigencies of a given time or the interest of whoever is on the throne.
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