The African Democratic Congress, or ADC, has endorsed Vice President Kashim Shettima’s assertion that the President Tinubu lacks the authority to remove an elected governor.
While describing how former President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to remove him as governor of Borno State, the vice president stated on Thursday that the president does not have the authority to remove an elected governor.
His comment coincided with President Bola Tinubu suspending Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Earlier Friday, the Presidency indicated in a statement that the VP’s comment was unrelated to the Rivers State crisis. However, ADC regarded the rejoinder as “just an attempt at political correctness.”
Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s interim national publicity secretary, issued a statement emphasising that the vice president must stick to his brave and direct speech and that the truth must not be obscured by political correctness.
The declaration confirmed that President Tinubu lacks the constitutional authority to remove an elected councillor, let alone a sitting governor, according to the ADC.
Part of the statement reads, “For avoidance of doubts, the breakdown of law and order that the presidency has deployed as pretext to overthrow democratic order in Rivers State is nothing compared with the rampaging scourge of Boko Haram that abducted more than 200 school girls in Chibok, Borno state, slaughtered school boys in Buni Yadi, Yobe State and challenged the very sovereignty of Nigeria.
“Yet, in declaring a state of emergency in the affected states under these dire circumstances, President Jonathan recognized the limits of his constitutional powers and he respected it.
“This was the truth that the Vice President reminded us of at the Book Launch of former Attorney General, Mohammed Bello Adoke on Thursday. It was not faux pas, it was not Freudian slip, it was the truth anchored on the facts of history.
“In this regard, the ADC therefore calls on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately restore democratic governance in Rivers State, cease all illegal interference in the affairs of the state, and halt the unconstitutional actions that have upended democratic rule in that state.
“We further demand that the President tenders an unreserved apology to the Nigerian people for this abuse of power and the blatant disregard for constitutional order that has played out under his watch.”
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