The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused President Bola Tinubu of overstepping his constitutional powers by suspending Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara during the emergency rule period, insisting he must apologise to Nigerians.
Timothy Osadolor, the party’s Deputy National Youth Leader, speaking in Abuja on Wednesday, said the President’s action undermined the separation of powers and set a “dangerous precedent” for the country’s democracy.
“Yes, I think the President was overreaching,” Osadolor said in reaction to Tinubu’s speech, which he criticised as condescending toward governors. “If he has the powers to remove elected governors, who then has the powers to check the President, who was also elected?”
He argued that the move violated the 1999 Constitution and warned it could weaken institutional checks on presidential authority. “First and foremost, I would have expected the President to apologise not only to Nigerians but to the wider public,” he said.
Osadolor also urged the National Assembly to legislate against any repeat of what he called an “arrogant suspension of a governor,” accusing lawmakers of being financially compromised in endorsing the process.
“No President, no matter how powerful or emotionally motivated, should use the authority of his office to rip apart the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
He further criticised the tone of Tinubu’s address to governors and stakeholders as “uncalled for and unnecessary,” likening it to that of a “military commander.”
Osadolor called for a probe into what he described as the “six-month aberration of an occupational government,” saying the episode exposed weaknesses in Nigeria’s governance framework.
