A former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Bello Adoke, has provided an insight into why President Goodluck Jonathan did not suspend Governors when he imposed emergency rule in three north-eastern states in 2013. Adoke argued that Jonathan allowed the Governors to remain in power because suspending them during the time would have been unconstitutional.

Adoke’s position is contained in his memoir, titled, ‘Burden of Service: The Reminiscences of Nigeria’s Former Attorney-General’, published in 2019 by Clink Street (London & New York). According to him, the 1960 Constitution gave the Federal Government the power to make its own laws on emergency rule, saying that allowed the Tafawa Balewa administration to suspend the Premier of the Western Region in 1962. ”While the 1961 State of Emergency Act allowed for the removal of Premiers, the 1979 Constitution and, subsequently, the 1999 Constitution, spelt out how to declare a State of Emergency.

The removal of a Governor is definitely not included in the provisions”, he submitted in the book. President Bola Tinubu had not only imposed emergency rule in Rivers State where there had been a political crisis that saw impeachment notice served on Governor Simi Fubara, last week, he also suspended the Governor as well as the state House of Assembly. Find below excerpts of the 2013 event under President Jonathan as narrated by then AGF.

EMERGENCY RULE
On 13 May 2013, the President declared a State of Emergency in three of the North Eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe owing to the Boko Haram insurgency that was ravaging those areas. The security situation was getting out of hand in those states, despite the efforts of the Armed Forces to contain the terrorist group. There was already political tension in Northern Nigeria arising from the 2011 presidential election. Some politicians had been credited with inciting statements, including that they would make the country “ungovernable” if Jonathan won.

They claimed that he had “stolen” the turn of the North. With the unrelenting insecurity and violent situation, which, in fact, worsened two years after the 2011 elections, Nigeria found itself in disequilibrium. The President needed the declaration of State of Emergency in the troubled states in order to deal with the insurgency. When the issue came up, there were discussions as to the extent the President could go. However, since the insurgency was not spread all over those states, the local government areas most affected were identified.

Rather than declare total emergency in the states, the President limited it to those local government areas so that security manpower could be concentrated there to contain the situation. He also did not remove or suspend any Local Government Chairman or Governor. For the first time in Nigeria’s history, an emergency was declared with the political leadership in place.

I had advised the President that he was free to declare a full or partial State of Emergency as provided in Section 305 of the Constitution which states that the President may, by an instrument published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, issue a proclamation of a State of Emergency in the Federation or any part thereof. Subsection 2 states that the President shall, after the publication, transmit the Gazette containing the proclamation, including the details of the emergency, to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, each of whom “shall forthwith convene a meeting of the House to consider and decide whether to pass a resolution approving the proclamation.” The Constitution specifically stipulates that the President shall have powers to declare a State of Emergency only when the Federation is at war, is in imminent danger of invasion or is involved in a state of war, and there is an actual breakdown of public order in the Federation or any part, to such extent as to require extraordinary measures to restore peace and security. That is, the occurrence of imminent danger or disaster, or natural calamity affecting a community, or a section of the community in the Federation, qualifies as emergency warranting such a proclamation. Under Subsection 4, the Governor of a state may, with the support of two-thirds majority of the state House of Assembly, request the President to issue a proclamation of emergency in the state, when there is in existence any of the listed situations.

PUBLIC CRITICISM
President Jonathan, predictably, came under criticism from commentators who felt he should have removed the Local Government Chairmen as well as Governors in the affected states. Why declare a State of Emergency and retain the Governors? That was what many commentators said. The opportunity for Jonathan’s foes to describe him as a weak leader emerged yet again! Historically, State of Emergency was employed more as a political weapon to settle scores with opposing forces, not necessarily to address issues of actual or imminent threat to security. Nigerians were more familiar with that nefarious employment of the provision. The fact that Governors in Nigeria cannot be held responsible for any breakdown of law and order is lost on these critics. Governors are the Chief Security Officers of their states only in name; they do not have the requisite constitutional power of control over the secu- rity agencies. Removing them during emergency, to my mind, was simply illogical.

The mentality that a Governor must be removed was most likely derived from what happened in 1962 when, owing to a crisis in the Western Region, government structures broke down. The Premier, Chief S. L. Akintola, had refused to vacate office for his replacement, Alhaji Dawodu Soroye Adegbenro, after being removed by the Regional House of Assembly. The Federal Government had stepped in and appointed Dr Moses Majekodunmi as the Administrator of Western Region, rather than allow Adegbenro to take over as Premier. It was a highly tense political situation. Although Akintola was still a member of the Action Group (AG), his sympathy for the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), which controlled the Federal Government, earned him a restoration to office.




https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/03/tinubu-fubara-why-jonathan-didnt-sack-govs-during-his-emergency-rule-in-three-states-adoke-former-agf/