The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed March 9 for judgment in a fresh suit challenging the constitutional authority of President Bola Tinubu to remove elected state officials under emergency rule.
Justice James Omotosho adjourned the matter for judgment on Friday after counsel to the parties adopted their written processes and presented arguments for and against the suit.
The case was filed by the Civil Society Observatory for Constitutional and Legal Compliance (CSOCLC) and arises from actions taken after the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State last year.
The plaintiff argued that while the President is empowered under Section 305 of the Constitution to declare a state of emergency, that authority does not extend to suspending or removing elected executive and legislative officers, nor appointing an interim administrator.
Justice Omotosho noted that the suit bears similarities to earlier cases he had dismissed, citing jurisdictional limitations linked to the Emergency Powers (Jurisdiction) Act of 1962.
He also referenced a December 15, 2025 decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which reportedly struck out a related matter on procedural grounds.
Counsel to the plaintiff, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, acknowledged the previous rulings but insisted they were wrongly decided. He argued that the 1962 Act was a “spent law” deliberately excluded from statute books before the 1999 Constitution came into force.
According to him, any 2025 presidential order purporting to modify the obsolete law is unconstitutional, null, and void.
“The Constitution has fully covered the field on emergency powers. No executive proclamation can override the clear provisions of Section 305,” he submitted.
Counsel representing the first to fifth defendants, including the President and the Attorney-General of the Federation, relied on the same 1962 Act and the modification order, arguing that only the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over the dispute. They urged the court to strike out the suit.
Among the 26 reliefs sought by the plaintiffs is a declaration that Rivers State cannot be governed by an appointed administrator, retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, outside the framework of the Constitution.
The case, now reserved for judgment, has reopened a sensitive constitutional debate on the scope and limits of emergency powers in Nigeria.
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