Nollywood veteran and lawyer Kenneth Okonkwo has advised Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara to approach the courts to reclaim the six months he lost during the political crisis in the state.
Okonkwo gave the advice on Monday during an interview on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, while reacting to the suspension of the state of emergency in Rivers and the reinstatement of Governor Fubara, his deputy, and state lawmakers.
He argued that Fubara’s constitutional four-year mandate had been unlawfully interrupted. “The four years have been interpreted by the Supreme Court to be sacrosanct. Now, his six months have been illegally, brutally, without reason, taken away from him. That means you have denied the Rivers people the four years that the Constitution gave them the power to be served by the governor,” he said.
Quoting Section 180(2) of the 1999 Constitution, Okonkwo stressed that a governor’s tenure is fixed at four years from the day of swearing-in. By his calculation, Fubara’s term should run until November 29, 2027, not May 29, 2027.
He further argued that if President Bola Tinubu justified the declaration of a state of emergency on the grounds of a breakdown of law and order, then elections and tenure should have been shifted forward by six months, not shortened.
“The Rivers people have the right to be served for four years by Fubara. That’s what they voted him for,” Okonkwo said.
