Rule of law is the guiding principle of governance because it is the foundation of good governance. According to Mary-Imelda Nwogu, it is a liberty-centred constitutional concept which stipulates that everything must be done in accordance with the law, and encapsulates such ideals as government according to the law, equality before the law and the independence, and autonomy of the judiciary, among others.
The supremacy of the Constitution is the basic foundation of the rule of law in Nigeria. Subsections (1) and (3) of section 1, established in clear terms the supremacy of the Nigerian Constitution, and are always read and considered together, since they tend to deal with one central theme: the supremacy of the Constitution. The 1999 Constitution in section 1 provides that: (1) This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. (3) If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail and that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void. Subsection (1) is intended to deal with the supremacy of the Constitution over executive, legislative and judicial exercises of power, while subsection (3) deals with the supremacy of the Constitution over other laws of the land.
The Supreme Court, in Governor of Lagos State v. Ojukwu, per Obaseki, J.S.C., confirmed this erudite submission as to the meaning of rule of law when it stated, “Nigerian Constitution is founded on the rule of law the primary meaning of which is that everything must be done according to law. It means also that government should be conducted within the framework of recognised rules and principles which restrict discretionary power which Coke colourfully spoke of as golden and straight guyand of law as opposed to the uncertain and crooked cord of discretion. The rule of law means that disputes as to the legality of acts of government are to be decided by judges who are wholly independent of the executive….”
Tinubu regime’s handling of the matter in Rivers State is a clear sign that his administration is anti rule of law. Before the inception of his regime, the G-5 Governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) extraction, led by then Gov Nyesom Wike rebelled against their party for refusing to give Nyesom Wike the presidential ticket and even rejected him as a vice presidential candidate. The G-5, in the interest of self-preservation and survival, decided to work for the cancerous All Progressives Congress (APC), according to Wike, under the presidential candidature of Bola Tinubu. This effort contributed in the declaration of Tinubu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the presidential election. However, Wike still worked for the emergence and victory of the Peoples Democratic Party at the state level which saw the declaration of Siminalayi Fubara as the Governor of Rivers State. Tinubu appointed Wike as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on assumption of office.
This complex relationship was difficult to manage from the onset. Tinubu is APC, Fubara is PDP, while Wike is PDAPC. The ambiguous nature of political alliance of Wike which made him neither a complete member of PDP or APC, made it confusing for Wike’s followers to adjust, especially Fubara. Wike made enemies of Rivers APC in order to install his PDP proteges in office. He also made enemies of other PDP stalwarts in Rivers who disagreed with him in the choice of the candidates he chose for the party in the state. He made total enemies with the presidential candidate team of the PDP because of his perceived rejection by the team.
Fubara, the peacemaker, attempted to reconcile everyone to work together for the success of the state, but this was interpreted by Wike to mean accommodating the enemies who fought them during his PDAPC 2023 general election preferences. Political disagreement which snowballed into war ensued. Wike wanted Fubara out at all costs, but Tinubu wanted to retain both of them because he wanted to pocket Rivers State for himself. In Tinubu’s calculation of turning Nigeria into Lagos government familitocratic model, ownership of Rivers State is very important, principally for its wealth. Delta State is also important in his calculation and he is picking them gradually. Kano is also a must catch, and he is not closing his eyes on it.
Tinubu’s first attempt at reconciling Wike and Fubara fell apart because the agreement was offensive to the rule of law having breached some constitutional provisions and was greatly tilted to favour Wike’s side. Having failed to capture Rivers State through that cunning route, Tinubu waited until the Supreme Court delivered judgement on the same set of cases that Tinubu ordered to be removed from the courts but of which the Wike camp refused to obey and continued them up till the Supreme Court. The judgement was heavily against Fubara but Tinubu was surprised that Fubara was willing and commenced obedience of the Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court annulled the local government councils election organised by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commissions because of procedural matters. The judgement created the opportunity for Nyesom Wike to move against Fubara for his removal through impeachment as he had influence over majority of the House of Assembly me embers. Tinubu didn’t like this option because this would have made Wike the owner of Rivers State.
The only option left for Tinubu was to unconstitutionally declare a purported state of emergency and unconstitutionally removed the elected Governor of Rivers State and the elected members of the House of Assembly for an initial period of six months. He initially blamed Fubara for unfounded insecurity concerns and later started twisting it that it was his ploy to protect Fubara from being removed from office and a strategy to enable the parties some time to cool off and make peace. Of course this was not true because the President has the power to suspend the purported state of emergency anytime before six months whenever peace returned to the state. Both Wike and Fubara have publicly declared that they have made peace, yet the state of emergency has not been lifted. Instead, Tinubu presented a suspicious budget for Rivers State to the National Assembly in which N22b was allocated to install CCTV cameras for the surveillance of the Rivers State House. One wonders whether such CCTV would be used to see the private part of an ant based on its cost. This simply showed a scramble for the wealth of Rivers State which is one of the reasons for the declaration of the state of emergency.
Another evidence that this declaration is for power grab is the insistence of the Tinubu government that the unelected Sole Administrator of Rivers State, appointed by Tinubu to illegally occupy Rivers State House for six months, should organise the local government councils elections. A non-partisan stakeholders and advocates for democratic principles in Rivers State recently expressed deep concern over the ongoing violation of constitutional governance and due process in the unlawful attempt to hold local government council elections in Rivers State. They rightly pointed out that the proposed local government elections in Rivers State are nothing short of an existential assault on democracy and a brazen flouting of Nigeria’s Constitution. To them, “these elections, orchestrated by a “Sole Administrator” with no constitutional mandate and allegedly imposed by the Federal Government, threaten the very foundations of our federal system, the rule of law, and the peace of Rivers State.”
Indeed, there is currently no legally constituted Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) as mandated by Sections 2, 3, 5, and 12 of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission Law, 2018. Consequently, any electoral activities undertaken by such an illegitimate body are null and void. The combined interpretation of the specified sections of the RSIEC Law alongside Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) establishes that only the elected governor, upon confirmation by the Rivers State House of Assembly, is empowered to appoint the chairman and members of RESIEC. Any appointment process outside this constitutional procedure is invalid and unconstitutional.
Also, the illegitimate Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) flagrantly ignored the mandatory 90 days notice requirement before an election, as stipulated in Section 20 of the RSIEC Law. With no formal notification for candidate nominations or polling timetables, and an election date of August 30, 2025, announced on short notice, the process bears a resemblance to the 2024 polls, which the Supreme Court annulled due to procedural failures. Ignoring these safeguards is not an oversight; it is a deliberate attack on the principle of due process. This government has shown itself incapable of obeying the laws of the land because of its inordinate desire for wealth and power.
It’s obvious that Rivers State has been plunged into a constitutional crisis due to the federal suspension of its executive and legislative branches. This blatant usurpation of state autonomy through the illegal declaration of a purported state of emergency desecrates our federal architecture and imperils democratic governance. Nigerians and all defenders of democracy must intervene decisively. Rivers State stands at a crossroads: surrender to impunity or uphold the Constitution and the will of the people. The choice is ours—and the stakes could not be higher because the whole agenda is to ultimately turn Nigeria to the Lagos model of Tinubu’s familitocratic government model. Time to lift the suspension of the elected representatives of Rivers State is now to avoid anarchy.
Credit:The Sun