VP Shettima says president can’t suspend a governor, a swipe at Tinubu

Vice-President Kashim Shettima on Thursday publicly spoke about the unconstitutionality of a president suspending or removing an elected governor, in what many see as a veiled criticism of President Bola Tinubu’s controversial removal of Rivers Governor Siminalayi Fubara earlier this year.

Speaking at the launch of a memoir by former attorney-general Mohammed Adoke in Abuja, Shettima recalled how former President Goodluck Jonathan had once considered ousting him as governor of Borno state, but was advised against by top officials of the government, including Adoke.

The episode, which he carefully narrated at an event attended by current and former senior government officials, bore striking resemblance to the constitutional debate ignited by Tinubu’s intervention in Rivers.

“Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was floating the idea of removing this Borno governor,” Shettima said, referring to himself. “And Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, had the courage to tell the president: ‘You don’t have the power to remove an elected councillor.’”

The vice-president credited Adoke, then attorney-general, with blocking Jonathan’s attempt at the time.

“The president was still unconvinced. He mooted the idea at the Federal Executive Council. Mr. Mohammed Adoke told the president: ‘You do not have the power to remove a sitting governor,’” Shettima said.

“They sought the opinion of another SAN in the cabinet, Kabiru Turaki, who also said: ‘I am of the candid opinion of my senior colleagues.’ That was how the matter was laid to rest.”

Widening Rift?

The speech comes nearly four months after Tinubu’s controversial March 18 declaration of emergency rule in Rivers state, and his removal of Governor Fubara from office, a decision that was later rubber-stamped by the National Assembly in a process critics described as unconstitutional. Since then, retired naval chief Ibas Ibokette has been administering the state.

Though Shettima made no direct reference to Tinubu’s action, the political subtext was unmistakable. Many Nigerians viewed his remarks as a public rebuke of presidential interference in state governance, and a thinly veiled indictment of the president’s role in Fubara’s removal.

“VP Shettima’s anecdote about the unconstitutionality of removing elected officials, made in the context of a high-profile event, could be interpreted as allegory and a responsive subtle jab at Tinubu’s March 2025 suspension of Gov Fubara, his deputy, and the Rivers State House of Assembly,” wrote an X user, Prof. I. Enakhena.

Political observers say the speech marks Shettima’s most explicit divergence from Tinubu since they assumed office together in May 2023. The vice-president has until now avoided commenting on the legality of the Rivers episode, even as legal experts, opposition figures, and some civil society groups questioned its legitimacy.

His comments may also widen a reported internal rift. Last month, a meeting of the ruling All Progressives Congress, North-east chapter, ended in disarray after Tinubu loyalists endorsed his 2027 re-election bid without confirming Shettima as a running mate.

Shettima said he was grateful to Adoke for upholding the law even when it wasn’t politically convenient.

“I want to thank you for the courage to forgive those who have offended you,” Shettima said. “In the last four years of the Jonathan government, I was the public enemy number one.”