{"id":122820,"date":"2025-10-08T06:09:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T05:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=122820"},"modified":"2025-10-08T06:09:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T05:09:16","slug":"ex-lawmaker-challenges-tinubus-emergency-powers-says-rivers-paid-heavy-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ex-lawmaker-challenges-tinubus-emergency-powers-says-rivers-paid-heavy-price\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Lawmaker Challenges Tinubu\u2019s Emergency Powers, Says Rivers Paid Heavy Price"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Former Member of the House of Representatives and 2023 Rivers State governorship aspirant, Dr. Farah Dagogo, has faulted the emergency rule earlier imposed on Rivers State by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, describing it as detrimental to the state and its people.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dr. Dagogo made the remarks on Tuesday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, during the resumed hearing of Suit No. FHC\/PH\/CS\/50\/2025, in which he is challenging the President\u2019s constitutional authority to suspend democratically elected government officials.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Originally filed at the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court, the matter was later transferred to Abuja following a directive from the Attorney General of the Federation to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">During proceedings, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, counsel to the first respondent (President Tinubu), urged the court to rely on its previous rulings in similar matters that were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, Barr. Babafemi Adegbite, counsel to Dr. Dagogo, requested to make an oral argument, emphasizing that the plaintiff seeks to demonstrate why the present case is distinguishable and why the court has jurisdiction to hear it.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">In his ruling, Justice James Omotosho directed the plaintiff to file a written address to substantiate its argument on jurisdiction and adjourned the matter to Friday, October 10, 2025, for further deliberation.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Speaking with journalists after the hearing, Dr. Dagogo, through his counsel, maintained that the constitutional question remains unresolved despite the lifting of the emergency rule.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWe know and still believe that the President did not have the power to do what he did,\u201d Dr. Dagogo said. \u201cProceeding with this suit even after the suspension has been lifted is not an academic exercise. We seek judicial clarification for the sake of posterity and are prepared to go as far as the Supreme Court, God willing.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He stressed that the court must make a definitive pronouncement to prevent what he described as a dangerous precedent that could embolden future administrations to suspend elected officials at will for political reasons.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Dr. Dagogo also lamented the negative impact of the six-month emergency rule on Rivers State, noting that governance and development were effectively paralyzed despite substantial federal allocations.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cFor the six months that the emergency rule lasted, Rivers State and its people were the casualties. Governance was stalled, development stagnated, and the state suffered despite the enormous resources available,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tuesday\u2019s session marked the first full appearance of all parties since the case commenced. The defendants include President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, and Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Rtd.), who served as the Rivers State Administrator during the emergency rule period.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi Former Member of the House of Representatives and 2023 Rivers State governorship aspirant, Dr. Farah Dagogo, has faulted the emergency rule earlier imposed on Rivers State by&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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