Vice-President Kashim Shettima has stated that the Nigerian president has no constitutional authority to remove an elected governor, let alone a councillor.
Speaking in Abuja on Thursday during the launch of a book authored by former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, Shettima made veiled reference to the ongoing controversy surrounding the removal of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, by President Bola Tinubu.
Fubara, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was ousted from office on March 18, 2025, following a directive allegedly issued by the presidency. His removal, which was later endorsed by the National Assembly, has drawn widespread criticism, especially after reports surfaced that lawmakers were bribed to ratify the decision. A retired military general has since been acting as the state's administrator.
Without mentioning Fubara directly, Shettima drew from his personal experience as a former governor of Borno State to highlight the illegality of such actions.
“Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was floating the idea of removing this Borno governor (pointing to himself), and Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, had the courage to tell the president: ‘You don’t have the power to remove an elected councillor,’” Shettima recalled.
He praised Adoke for standing up to Jonathan in 2013, when the president allegedly sought to remove governors in the northeast over rising insecurity. According to Shettima, Adoke firmly advised against such unconstitutional moves during a Federal Executive Council meeting.
“The president was still unconvinced and brought it up again at FEC. 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 agreed with Adoke. That was how the matter was laid to rest.”
Shettima also expressed gratitude to Adoke for forgiving those who had wronged him, revealing how he himself was once branded “public enemy number one” during Jonathan’s administration.
Though Shettima refrained from commenting directly on Fubara’s ouster, his remarks were widely interpreted as a subtle indictment of President Tinubu’s controversial move, which many legal experts and political actors have labelled unconstitutional.
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