HURIWA Slams Supreme Court For Delay In Listing Suit On Rivers State Of Emergency

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has castigated the Supreme Court of Nigeria for its refusal or undue delay by the Chief Justice of Nigeria to constitute a panel of Justices to adjudicate on the salient constitutional questions posed to them in the legal challenge instituted since April 8th 2025 against the ill-fated declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

HURIWA said that the Supreme Court of Nigeria is clearly doing the greatest disservice to the country by its refusal to quickly address a serious constitutional matter such as suspending an elected sitting governor by the President against the backdrop of the fact that there is nowhere in the Nigerian Constitution that gives the president the self-destructive powers of unseating a sitting governor of a state.

The Rights group alleged that the undue delay in fixing hearing date could be a red flag that Justices of the nation’s highest court seemed jittery of the prospects of deciding on the groundbreaking legal challenge to the unconstitutional proclamation of a state of emergency particularly with regards to the apparent illegality of slamming a suspension on a sitting governor of Rivers state by a sitting President.

HURIWA claimed that the unacceptable delay could mean that the Supreme Court may be tacitly adopting the delay tactics to unwittingly compel the Appellants to reach out to the Defendant for political solution rather than the nation’s highest court to make a definitive pronouncement to settle this thorny constitutional issues once and for all.

It further said; “We in HURIWA stand to be corrected that the delay is anything but ominous and toxic. The only logical explanation for the unfair tactics of the Supreme Court is to say that, maybe it is because of the fear of the unknown.

“But, if the Justices of the nation’s highest court are jittery and refusing to fix the dates for hearing of this legal challenge by the 11 PDP Governors against the suspension of a sitting governor, then we can say that there is a much deeper conspiratorial plot to destabilise constitutional democracy and achieve total state capture. We pray that we are wrong.

“The Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria ought to be patriotic enough to entertain this matter and take a decision one way or the other instead of this unnecessary delay that has now made the All Progressives Congress’ national hierarchy to employ blackmail tactics against some PDP Governors who are scared of losing their return bid to their offices in the next election and thereby forcing these scared PDP Governors to either cross carpet to APC or organise media charades to endorse President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term.

These were contained in a statement by Emmanuel Onwubiko, National Coordinator of HURIWA in which he expressed disappointment that after nearly a month that the case was filed, Nigerians have been left in the lurch regarding the status of the case and the dates for commencement of this litigation is shrouded in secrecy.

According to HURIWA; “We know that the Learned Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria must be aware that the eyes and minds of millions of Nigerians are on this very matter just as millions of people all over the World are waiting for the Supreme Court of Nigeria to make a pronouncement on the critical question of whether the President of the Federation has the constitutional powers to illegally unseat a sitting governor and temporarily dissolve the state legislature.

“It is a thing of surprise that such a landmark matter is being treated in such a lackadaisical and ‘We don’t give a damn’ attitude by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. We are urging the Supreme Court of Nigeria to wake up and fix a definitive date for hearing and deciding on this critical matter that touches on the heart of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy,” it said.

HURIWA noted that the plaintiffs in the suit include; Adamawa, Enugu, Osun, Oyo, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Plateau, Delta, Taraba, Zamfara, and Bayelsa states.