Rivers Crisis: Senate Failed Required Quorum While Passing Tinubu’s Emergency Rule- Senator

Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has accused the Nigerian Senate of failing to form the constitutionally required quorum when it approved the State of Emergency proclamation on Rivers state by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The senator’s remark comes after a legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Abiodun Jelili Owonikoko said the Senate’s action should be challenged at the nation’s Supreme Court, saying the action could be invalidated by the apex court if it discovered that the requirement required to validate the president’s action by the National Assembly was not met.

Tambuwal, a former governor of Sokoto state and ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives made the remark on Sunday while speaking to The Sun Newspaper.

According to him, the 1999 Constitution required that 74 Senators or two-third of the 109 senators ratified such Emergency Rule proclamation by the president.

This requirement was not met last week when the Senator Godswill Akpabio-led Senate debated  and ratified the president’s decision to suspend all democratic institutions, including the Governor, Deputy Governor and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Senator Tambuwal said.

The magazine reported that President Tinubu had on March 17 suspended Governor Siminalaye Fubara, his Deputy and lawmakers in the state House of Assembly amidst the protracted political tension resulting from the clash between pro-Fubara lawmakers and pro- Nyesom Wike lawmakers.

Wike, a former governor of the state and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, was Fubara’s political godfather before they were thorn apart due to unresolved issues.

Recall that the Senate and the House of Representatives had ratified the president’s proclamation barely 48 hours after.

Senator Tambuwal however insist that the thresh-hold of two-third majority in the uppers house was not met before the president’s proclamation was approved by the senators.

The senator’s position has further heightened suggestions that many lawmakers who were not in support of the president’s action were prepared to vote against it, that it was hastily passed to avoid backlash from those that opposed it in the National Assembly, and to avoid a situation where the president will be embarrassed.

Recall that a former governor of Bayelsa state, Senator Seriake Dickson had clashed with Senate President Akpabio over the issue. Senator Dickson later revealed that he staged a walk out, alongside some other senators during the Senate Executive session where the Emergency Rule was ratified.

Senator Tambuwal however insisted that the Senate action  “fell short of the provision of the Constitution” because the number of senators present failed the two-third threshold required by law.

Tambuwal: “I will be speaking to you from the point of view of being a lawyer, a member of the Body of Benchers and a life Bencher for that matter and not necessarily as a lawmaker who is a member of the 10th Senate. And, in addition to that, possibly my experience as a former presiding officer, former Speaker of the House of Representatives who presided over a matter such as this in 2013.

“Section 305 of the Constitution is very clear. It is unambiguous, the language is very plain, of the Constitution as to first, how the president can declare a state of emergency and what is required of the legislature, the two chambers – both the Senate and the House of Representatives before passing such a resolution.

“What is required is that you must obtain and have two-thirds of all the members, of either of the two chambers, in support of the resolution.

“In the case of what happened in the Senate, where I belong, I don’t know whether members of your team, who are members of the press corps, had the privilege of checking the (Senate) register to see whether there were up to 72, 73 senators on the floor. From what I saw, there was no such number on the floor on that day.

“So, if you juxtapose that to the requirement of the Constitution which says that the Senate must have two-thirds of its members, all of its members to pass that resolution, in support of it, not just present and voting. No! Supporting it. It means that what was done fell short of the provision of the Constitution.”