Ijaw Youth Leaders Drags FG to ECOWAS Court Over Fubara’s Suspension

The Ijaw Youth Council, Eastern Zone, has dragged the Federal Government to the ECOWAS Court of Justice over the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State and other elected officials by President Bola Tinubu.

The 12 litigants, led by Comrade Ibiso Harry, challenged the President’s declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State, describing it as an “illegal suspension” that violates their fundamental human rights.

In the suit, the Applicants urged the regional court to issue an order setting aside and/or quashing the suspension of elected officials and removal of democratic structures and institutions in Rivers State.

They argued that President Tinubu’s actions were “antithetical to tenets of democracy” and exhibited “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,” they added.

The Applicants maintained that the President’s actions have “unlawfully taken away the democratic rights” of the people of Rivers State and put them into an “unconstitutional, undemocratic, and arbitrary manner of governance.”

“A state of emergency cannot be guise or subterfuge for the usurpation of the executive functions of the Governor or the exercise of the law-making powers of the legislature,” they averred.

The matter is yet to be assigned a hearing date.

VANGUARD