I listened with utmost dismay and embarrassment to the media chat of Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and former Governor of Rivers State on the state of the nation and I reached a conclusion, drawing from the stark revelations that emanated from the chat, particularly as it concerns the local government elections organised by the illegal and unconstitutional Sole Administrator of Rivers State, appointed by the perennial desecrator of rule of law, President Tinubu, that Nigeria is now under the rule of might and the jungle, but certainly not the rule of law.
The first honest statement made by Wike was the admission that Tinubu suspended part of the Constitution and some sections of the Electoral Act for the Sole Administrator to be able to purportedly organise the illegal and unconstitutional local government council elections. This admission tallied with our submission immediately after the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, and the unconstitutional removal of the governor and members of the State House of Assembly that what Tinubu did was not a declaration of a state of emergency, but a declaration of martial law. The declaration of a state of emergency is guided by section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, and there’s no provision in that section that empowers the President to suspend any provision of the Constitution or any law to proclaim a state of emergency. Suspension of the Constitution or any law is the exclusive prerogative of coup plotters who take over the reins of power through the barrel of the gun. This is possible only through a revolution which brings into existence a new legal order in a manner not anticipated by the existing legal order. Invariably, Wike unwittingly admitted that Tinubu conducted a coup against the democratic political order in Nigeria, particularly in Rivers State, in order to be able to empower the Sole Administrator to organise the unfortunate and deeply flawed local government council elections in Rivers State.
To add salt to injury, Wike cited a rule made by President Olusegun Obasanjo which he called the Emergency Powers of the President During a State of Emergency as the source of power for Tinubu’s right to suspend some parts of the Constitution in order that the illegal Rivers State local government council elections can take place. This is absurd. For the avoidance of doubt, the Sole Administrator does not have the power to appoint the members of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC). This right is the exclusive privilege of the elected Governor of Rivers State and the House of Assembly. The Constitution states, with particular reference to Rivers State, that the Chairman and members of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission shall be appointed by the Governor of the State and the appointment shall be subject to confirmation by a resolution of the House of Assembly of the State. (Please see section 197(1)(b) and 198 of the 1999 Constitution). In the absence of an Elected Governor and the House of Assembly Members, no legitimate RSIEC can be instituted and no local government elections can hold.
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But here is the irony. The Constitution recognises that whenever there’s a genuine state of emergency, in which the country or any part of it is at war, that the President can shift every election for a period of six months. Tinubu himself told the world that there was a breakdown of law and order in Rivers State that necessitated the declaration of a state of emergency. The whole duty of government, assuming, without conceding, that there was a breakdown of law and order was to shift every scheduled election for six months until the state of emergency is lifted and then the election will be held when normalcy returns. But Tinubu held his own election during the emergency, signifying that the whole emergency situation was cooked up to perform an illegality. Tinubu simply turned Rivers State and the laws upside down in order to achieve the illegality that went on in Rivers State on the 30th of August 2025 in the name of LG elections. Another stark revelation was that the Gov Sim Fubara-organised LG elections, held during peaceful period, was annulled by the Supreme Court for not giving the required 90 days notice according to section 20 of the RSIEC law, and the same procedure was breached by the Sole Administrator to organise his own. This means that the judgement of the Supreme Court was trampled upon for the LG elections to hold under the Sole Administrator. Wike approved the illegality of the Sole Administrator but condemned the same procedure under Fubara. One cardinal principle of rule of law is that every person is equal before the law. What is illegal for Fubara is egregiously illegal for the Sole Administrator.
Important questions that emanate from Wike’s media chat include: So the rules of Obasanjo are now superior to the Constitution? So the Supreme Court judgement does not apply to Local Government elections organised by the Sole Administrator? So Tinubu can suspend the judiciary, executive, and the legislature in Nigeria, anytime he so wishes, through his rules in order to govern Nigeria, or any State he so wishes? Wike’s media chat has already confirmed that we are no longer in a democracy under Tinubu, but in a military regime which has conducted a coup against the Constitution in order to emerge as a dictator or paramount ruler of Nigeria. Let me answer some of the posers raised by Wike in his media chat by the submission of some prominent All Progressives Congress (APC) members and very loyal friends of Tinubu. The Vice-President to Tinubu, Shettima, publicly declared that Tinubu does not have the power to suspend a Councillor, so the issue of suspending a Governor does not arise. Prof Wole Soyinka, who has been uncharacteristically defensive of the President, publicly declared that Tinubu offended the concept of federalism in his illegal removal of Fubara from office. Ayo Fayose, another Tinubu apologist, declared that Tinubu was wrong in removing Fubara. He remembered how he was illegally removed by Obasanjo through an illegal declaration of a state of emergency in Ekiti that saw him being chauffeured by his driver away from Nigeria while he was in the boot of a car. Wike is the only Nigerian who believed that Tinubu had the right to rob his own state of its own democracy. Time will tell.
On the issue of Tinubu having the power to suspend the Constitution via a rule made by a President. First, the President is the head of the executive branch that has no power to make laws for the country. He can only make rules in any matter the legislature grants him powers to make the rules. When Tinubu declared the illegal state of emergency and gave himself the power to make regulations for Rivers State, the National Assembly quickly denied him that power and that ended it. Moreover, the cardinal principle of rule of law is the supremacy of the Constitution. We operate a written Constitution in which the powers of the three arms of government are clearly stated. The Constitution is supreme and its provisions have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution, the Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void. (Please see Section 1(1)(3) of the 1999 Constitution). The Constitution is binding on Tinubu, and any rule made by Tinubu or any other President that is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution is void. Every suspension of the provisions of the Constitution or any other law by Tinubu is void and of no effect. That rule that Wike cited to justify such illegality exists only in his imagination.
One will not overlook the hidden revelation in the conduct of the local government elections. The election results indicated that in some local governments, the winners scored as high as more than 300,000 votes to win their elections. This figure is more than what Tinubu scored in the presidential election in Rivers, and even what Wike scored in the gubernatorial election. If you multiply 300,000 by 23, LGAs, it will give you about 6.9 million votes. This is the foundation of the monumental fraud that is being prepared for the President in 2027. Don’t be surprised to hear that the President scored about 5 million votes in 2027 in Rivers, and some goons will use the result of the illegal local government elections in Rivers State to justify it. The gigantic figures being churned out in Osun State in the registration of voters exercise where it was alleged by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) that INEC registered 400,000 persons in a week is a dangerous ominous sign for 2027. Don’t be surprised if South-West manufactures more than 30 million votes for the President in 2027 with the slogan, ‘if you don’t like it, go to court.’
In all honesty, if there’s no electoral reform that will guarantee the electronic recording and transmission of polling unit results and accredited voters from the polling units to the electronic server and the uploading of the polling unit hard copy (Form EC 8A) results on the IREV Portal for use for collation of results, and the voiding of the results if such procedure is not followed, the election of 2027 will be a charade. APC has already written results to announce whichever candidate they wish as they did in Rivers LG elections. The mere fact that RSIEC allocated 20 seats to APC and three seats to PDP in a local government election in Rivers will be a child’s play compared to what will happen in 2027. The election will be an allocation and selection but certainly not an election.
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