The Supreme Court has ruled that the President has the constitutional power to declare a state of emergency in any state to stop a breakdown of law and order or prevent chaos.
In a split decision of six justices against one, the court said the President can suspend elected officials during a state of emergency, but such suspension must only last for a limited period.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Mohammed Idris explained that Section 305 of the Constitution gives the President the authority to take special or extraordinary steps to restore peace and stability when emergency rule is declared.
He said the Constitution does not clearly list what those special measures should be, which means the President has discretion on how to act.
The judgment followed a lawsuit filed by Adamawa State and 10 other states governed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
They challenged the declaration of a state of emergency by President Bola Tinubu in Rivers State, during which Governor Siminalayi Fubara and other elected officials were suspended for six months.
Justice Idris first agreed with the objections raised by the Attorney General of the Federation and the National Assembly.
He ruled that the PDP-led states failed to show a valid reason for the Supreme Court to hear the case under its original jurisdiction. As a result, he struck out the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
Despite this, the court still went ahead to consider the case on its merits and eventually dismissed it.
However, Justice Obande Ogbuinya disagreed with the majority decision. In his dissenting judgment, he said that while the President has the power to declare a state of emergency, that power does not include suspending elected state officials such as governors, deputy governors, and members of the state assemblies
