Leaders of the Ijaw Youth Council, Eastern Zone, have taken the Federal Government to the ECOWAS Court of Justice, challenging what they describe as the illegal suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and other elected officials by President Bola Tinubu.
The 12 litigants, led by Comrade Ibiso Harry, also contested President Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.
In the suit, marked ECW/CCJ/APP/18/25, the applicants urged the regional court to issue an order nullifying the suspension of elected officials and the dissolution of democratic institutions in Rivers State. They argued that restoring democratic structures was essential for upholding constitutional governance.
Additionally, they requested the court to overturn all decisions, actions, policies, and directives issued by the sole administrator appointed by President Tinubu on March 18 to govern Rivers State for six months.
The applicants based their suit on Articles III and IV of the supplementary protocol amending the ECOWAS Court’s protocol, Article II of the court’s protocol, and Article 33 of the court’s rules.
They contended that President Tinubu, having been elected himself, lacked the constitutional authority to remove or suspend another duly elected official, such as Governor Fubara.
The Ijaw youth leaders further argued that the removal of Governor Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly constituted a gross violation of their fundamental human rights.
“By so doing, the Defendant has unlawfully taken away the democratic rights of the Applicants and that of the population of Rivers State both individually and collectively,” they stated.
According to the applicants, President Tinubu’s actions have not only undermined their constitutional rights and those of the people of Rivers State but have also subjected them to what they termed “neo-junta governance”—a system they insist is unconstitutional, undemocratic, and arbitrary.
“The implication, therefore, is that the applicants and the people of Rivers State have lost their existence and dignity as human beings, having been politically emasculated by the loss of the values that accompany democratic governance and deprived of leaders duly elected by them in the democratic space.”
They maintained that President Tinubu’s actions contradicted the fundamental principles of democracy, asserting that the president had demonstrated “absoluteness in determining the existence and functioning of democratic systems in national sub-units by upturning and collapsing entrenched democratic systems.”
“The deliberate disruption of the democratic order in any part of the national structure questions the democratic practice and constitutional authenticity of the nation-state, as the forceful removal of popular sovereignty in a part or fraction of the national landscape translates to the non-existence of liberal democracy and non-application and conformity with constitutional norms in the entire federation.
“The enthronement of an illegal and unconstitutional order in any form within a constitutional democracy threatens the very idea of freedom and precipitates loss of genuineness on the part of the state and its institutions of any legitimate claim to a constitutional democracy.
“A state of emergency cannot be a guise or subterfuge for the usurpation of the executive functions of the Governor or the exercise of the lawmaking powers of the legislature,” the applicants stated in an affidavit filed in support of their legal action.
The suit was lodged through a team of lawyers led by Chief Festus Ogwuche.
Meanwhile, no date has been fixed for the hearing of the case.