Actor-turned-politician Kenneth Okonkwo has lambasted President Bola Tinubu for suspending elected officials in Rivers and subjecting the state to an emergency rule.
The former member of the Labor Party, speaking on Monday, March 24, 2025, on the constitutionality of Tinubu’s declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers, said the president committed a treasonable offense.
He further described the president’s action as criminal, saying his appointment of a sole administrator after suspending Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu, and the state lawmakers was a martial law.
He said, “The President simply suspended the provisions of the constitution, including section one. You cannot govern Nigeria or any part of it by any set of people except in accordance with the Constitution.
So, the appointment of a sole administrator is alien to our Constitution and is not contemplated.
“So what the President did was a martial law. It’s unconstitutional. It is illegal and it is criminal, because that is the real treason we are talking about. Usurping the power of the National Assembly to make law for Rivers State is another reasonable offence.”
Okonkwo explained that the constitution is very clear on how a governor and elected representatives should be removed, stressing that the president’s action constitutes a coup on the people of Rivers State.
“He did not declare state of emergency in rivers. He declared martial law. What he did was a coup against the rivers people. The constitution is very clear on how you elect the governor, section 179 section 180, and how governor is removed, section 188 section 189 and the law is very clear. How you elect the House of Representative members, which is there and how you remove section 117 and section 110 clear and simple,” the lawyer stated.
He said the appointment of a sole administrator and the president’s decision to release the state’s allocation to the administrator are unconstitutional.
He argued that -Rivers State does not have a 2025 budget and that the Supreme Court had already ruled that no appropriated bill or law exists for the state.
