{"id":2994,"date":"2025-03-26T07:51:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T07:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/?p=2994"},"modified":"2025-03-26T07:51:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T07:51:43","slug":"declare-null-and-void-actions-taken-by-rivers-state-sole-administrator-lawyer-urges-court-says-declaration-of-emergency-rule-in-rivers-state-violates-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/declare-null-and-void-actions-taken-by-rivers-state-sole-administrator-lawyer-urges-court-says-declaration-of-emergency-rule-in-rivers-state-violates-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"Declare null and void actions taken by Rivers state Sole Administrator- Lawyer urges Court ……Says declaration of emergency rule in Rivers state violates Constitution\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Our Reporter<\/div>\n
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Barely after a week\u00a0 the National Assembly has approved the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers state , an Abuja based lawyer has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to remove Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd) as the recently appointed Sole Administrator of Rivers State.<\/div>\n
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Rivers state Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The lawsuit challenging his appointment was filed by Barr.Johnmary Jideobi, who argued that the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers state is unconstitutional.<\/div>\n
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The suit, marked FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/572\/2025, lists President Bola Tinubu as the first defendant, alongside the Attorney-General of the Federation, Vice Admiral Ibas (Rtd), and the Attorneys-General of all 36 states.<\/div>\n
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The plaintiff is asking the court to nullify all actions taken by Ibas as Sole Administrator, insisting that such a position does not exist in the Nigerian Constitution.<\/div>\n
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Jideobi is also seeking a perpetual injunction to prevent President Tinubu from removing, suspending, or interfering with the tenure of any elected governor or deputy governor in Nigeria.<\/div>\n
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He argues that the President lacks the legal authority to appoint a Sole Administrator to any state government, as such an action undermines the principles of federalism and the separation of powers.<\/div>\n
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In the Originating Summons, filed through a legal team led by Mr. Chimezie Enuka, the plaintiff wants the court to determine whether the President has any constitutional power to remove a duly elected governor or deputy governor and replace them with an unelected official.<\/div>\n
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Citing Sections 1, 5(2), 180, 188, 189, 305, and 306 of the 1999 Constitution, he contends that the only legal grounds for removing a governor are expiration of tenure, impeachment, incapacity, or resignation\u2014none of which apply in this case.<\/div>\n
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The lawsuit also seeks a declaration that the March 18, 2025, suspension of the Rivers State Governor and Deputy Governor by President Tinubu was unconstitutional, null, and void.<\/div>\n
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Jideobi wants the court to set aside the suspension and the subsequent appointment of Vice Admiral Ibas (Rtd), arguing that they have no legal effect.<\/div>\n
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Additionally, he is asking the court to order Ibas to vacate the Rivers State Government House immediately.<\/div>\n
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In a 32-paragraph affidavit supporting the suit, Jideobi emphasizes that while the President has the constitutional power to declare a state of emergency when necessary, he does not have the power to suspend elected officials who were not appointed by him.<\/div>\n
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He insists that Nigeria\u2019s federal system of government does not grant the President such authority, and warns that allowing the removal of governors by presidential decree could set a dangerous precedent for executive overreach.<\/div>\n
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“As a Nigerian lawyer, I have never seen the term \u2018Sole Administrator\u2019 in the 1999 Constitution.<\/div>\n
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“I instituted this case in the public interest, to uphold the rule of law and protect the integrity of the Nigerian Constitution, which remains the foundation of our democracy”, Jideobi stated.<\/div>\n
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He further argued that failure to challenge the President\u2019s action could lead to a situation where governors are arbitrarily removed, opening the door to political instability across the country.<\/div>\n
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The case has not yet been assigned a hearing date, but it is expected to spark intense legal and political debates.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0If the court rules in Jideobi\u2019s favor, it could set a significant precedent on the limits of executive power and the autonomy of state governments in Nigeria.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Our Reporter Barely after a week\u00a0 the National Assembly has approved the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers state , an Abuja based lawyer has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to remove Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd) as the recently appointed Sole Administrator of Rivers State. The lawsuit challenging his appointment was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1760,314,1912,1349,1913,1806,1573,1790],"class_list":["post-2994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime","tag-declaration","tag-emergency","tag-instability","tag-political","tag-precedent","tag-rule","tag-significant","tag-unconstitutional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2995,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2994\/revisions\/2995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}