The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has dismissed the Presidency’s clarification statement on Vice President Kashim Shettima’s remarks that the president does not have the power to remove an elected governor, describing it as “a mere attempt at political correctness.”

In a statement by the party’s Interim National Publicity Secretary and Spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party emphasized that the truth must not be lost in the fog of political correctness, highlighting that the vice-president needed to stand by his forthright and courageous statement, affirming that the President has no constitutional power to remove an elected councillor, let alone a governor.

The statement read:
This simple truth, which is anchored in the Nigerian Constitution, must not be lost in the fog of political correctness that is currently emanating from Aso Rock. Truth does not respect political correctness, because what is wrong is wrong. What made the removal of an elected governor wrong and unconstitutional under President Jonathan in the case of Borno State, is the same that makes it wrong and unconstitutional under President Tinubu in the case of Rivers State. The only thing that has changed is that while one president held the constitution as sacrosanct and inviolable, another feels it could be manipulated to suit narrow political interests.

In recounting his own ordeal under the Jonathan administration, the vice president reminded Nigerians that when the idea of removing him as Borno State governor was floated, the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, stood his ground and told the President that he had no power to remove even an elected councillor. According to Vice President Shettima, Tambuwal’s position was reaffirmed by the Attorney General at the time, Mohammed Bello Adoke, who also told President Jonathan that the President of Nigeria does not have the power under the constitution to remove an elected governor from office.

This is not just history. It is a precedent. But unlike Jonathan, who has been widely acclaimed as a respecter of the law, President Tinubu chose to disregard the very laws he swore to uphold and tread the path of unconstitutionality in Rivers State. The suspension of a duly elected governor is not just unconstitutional, it is also authoritarian, and a dangerous precedent if allowed to persist even for a single more day. The ongoing executive overreach—fuelled by narrow political interests— indeed poses a grave threat to Nigeria’s democracy and federalism. Nigeria is not a monarchy. The powers of the President are not absolute. They are bound by law, tempered by precedent, and subject to public accountability.

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 a 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 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.

The ADC will continue to stand with the Nigerian people in defence of democracy, justice, and constitutionalism.

Signed:
Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi
Interim National Publicity Secretary/Spokesperson
African Democratic Congress (ADC)