The National Caretaker Committee (NCC) of the Labour Party (LP) claimed on Saturday that Vice-President Kashim Shettima might have come under pressure to clarify that his recent comments on the powers of a President to remove a duly elected state governor were not an attack on President Bola Tinubu.
Shettima, a former Governor of Borno State, had last Thursday shared the story of an incident that occurred in 2013 when a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, and a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello-Adoke (SAN), warned former President Goodluck Jonathan against his alleged plans to initiate the removal of some governors, including Shettima, as insurgency ravaged the North-East geopolitical zone.
The Vice-President, while speaking at the presentation of the book “OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block”, written by Bello-Adoke, recounted how Tambuwal and the former AGF pointedly told Jonathan that he lacked the powers to remove a governor, not even a councillor, from office.
The speech, delivered at a time when President Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State and subsequently suspended Governor Sim Fubara for six months, raised questions as to whether Shettima was not criticising the President’s actions.
However, on Friday, the Vice-President’s office made a quick intervention, clarifying that Shettima merely referred to a past context with a different scenario and different actors unrelated to the current action Tinubu took by declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State to save Fubara from being impeached.
Reacting to the development through the Special Adviser, Media, to the Chairman of the NCC, Mr Ken Asogwa, the LP faulted the “quick retraction” by Shettima, claiming that the former governor and current Vice-President might have been “forced” to make the clarification.
“If someone of Shettima’s stature—armed with immunity from prosecution and other ancillary protections of his office—cannot freely express a factual opinion without being coerced into a retraction, then it is a damning reflection of the human rights climate under the current administration,” a statement issued on behalf of the Chairman, Senator Nenadi Usman, partly read.
It further noted, “What is deeply troubling is the speed and intensity with which the Vice-President has been compelled to walk back his words. The question must be asked: Who is intimidating the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
“Indeed, it is no surprise that Nigeria continues to plunge to the bottom of human rights rankings across Africa.”
The LP observed that, “It is disingenuous for the Vice-President’s handlers to pretend not to know that Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)—which governs the declaration of a state of emergency—has not changed since 2013. That section confers no power whatsoever on the President to remove a sitting governor under any guise, including the declaration of emergency rule.
“Vice-President Shettima’s acknowledgement of that principled stance, particularly as it related to his own tenure as Governor of Borno State, was a refreshing demonstration of candour—until a follow-up statement from his office attempted, rather clumsily, to distance his remarks from the current situation in Rivers State.”
It further stated, “We commend Vice-President Shettima for his rare moment of honesty in drawing attention to what was clearly an unconstitutional act—the illegal removal of Governor Siminalayi Fubara earlier in March under the pretext of political chaos and breakdown of law and order by President Bola Tinubu.
“We reiterate our appreciation to Vice-President Shettima for speaking truth to power, even if momentarily. But we strongly urge those pulling strings behind the scenes to cease and desist from undermining the dignity of the office of the Vice-President. It is not only disrespectful to the man, but also to the institution he represents and to the constitution he swore to uphold.”
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