Supreme Court Judgment On Emergency Declaration Alarming – African Democratic Congress

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described the Supreme Court judgement which it said affirmed the Nigerian president’s power to suspend elected governors and state assemblies during a state of emergency as alarming.

The opposition party said the judgment by the apex court has created a “constitutional tyrant” in the President of Nigeria.

The ADC warned that the ruling, though academic in nature, sets a dangerous precedent and concentrates excessive power in the Presidency in a manner that undermines not only Nigeria’s federal system, but democracy itself.

The Supreme Court had on Monday affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s power to declare state of emergency declaration in Rivers State and suspend elected government officials.

The court gave the judgement on the suit filed by Adamawa and 10 other PDP-led states, challenging the validity of the Tinubu’s emergency declaration which suspended the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy and the state assembly lawmakers for six months.

Reacting however, ADC, in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said it is alarmed by the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria which grants the President the power to suspend elected governors and state assemblies during a state of emergency.

The party said although the ruling appears innocuously academic, it represents a potential inflection point in Nigeria’s democratic development, one that may alter the nature of democracy forever.

“According to the Supreme Court judgment, the President has the “discretion to determine the measures required to restore peace and security” after declaring a state of emergency in any state.

“In essence, the President may take any “extraordinary measures” if, in his opinion, such measures are necessary to restore peace in that state.

“The obvious implication of this position by the apex court is that the President of Nigeria, or his agents, could easily contrive a security situation in any state whose governor is deemed “unfriendly” and proceed to suspend both the Governor and the State House of Assembly. Although the same judgment notes that the Constitution provides that “no arm or tier of government is constitutionally superior to another,” the clear effect of the ruling suggests the opposite and grants the President firm control over the political conduct of state governors. The ADC therefore considers this judgment an extremely dangerous threat to Nigeria’s federalism and democracy.”

The party added that the  grave risk inherent in this judgment becomes even more apparent when the safeguards identified by the apex court as checks against abuse of presidential discretion are examined.

“These safeguards include proportionality, legislative oversight, and judicial review.

“When confronted with a President willing to do anything to retain power, including the total decimation and annihilation of opposition parties, as Nigerians have witnessed under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since he assumed office, proportionality is clearly out of the question. Secondly, with the President’s effective conquest of the National Assembly, and a legislature that has shamefully reduced itself to a mere appendage of the Presidency, legislative oversight is equally implausible. Finally, on judicial review, this very judgment has settled any doubt as to the nature of review that is now possible, when the highest court in the land chooses to prioritise the letter of the law over its spirit, a spirit expressly intended to prevent the very danger the Court has now sanctioned.

“With this form of “judicial review,” the Supreme Court has inadvertently aided the imposition of constitutional tyranny on Nigeria, a dangerous form of autocracy in which those in power exploit legal frameworks and constitutional loopholes to accumulate and entrench absolute authority.”

The ADC warned Nigerians that constitutional tyranny does not always arrive through military coups.

“It often advances gradually, as rulers steadily erode democratic norms and institutions, precisely as we have witnessed over the past two years. What has now become painfully clear is that neither the legislature nor the judiciary can be relied upon to halt this descent,” the party said.