LP tackles intimidation plot over Shettima’s remarks, backs VP on Rivers crisis stance

• The LP lauded Shettima for recalling how 2013 constitutional limits stopped governor removals during emergency rule.
• The LP accused Tinubu of using political unrest as pretext to illegally oust Governor Fubara in March.

The Labour Party (LP) has flayed attempts to cow the Vice President Kashim Shettima, over his comment at a recent book launch.

The opposition party described the move as a gross disservice to the nation’s democracy and institutional integrity.

Acting national chairman of the Labour Party, Nenadi Usman Usman, stated this on Saturday in Abuja.

A statement by Usman’s senior special adviser (media), Ken Asogwa, made the party’s position known.

“At the public presentation of the book ‘OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block’ authored by former attorney general, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), in Abuja on Thursday, vice president Kashim Shettima made a remark that was as honest as it was instructive,” the statement read.

It noted that Shettima recalled how, in 2013, when emergency rule was declared in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, the then speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, and attorney general Adoke, resisted pressure to remove any sitting governor.

“Vice president Shettima’s acknowledgment of that principled stance, particularly as it related to his own tenure as governor of Borno State, was a refreshing demonstration of candour until a follow-up statement from his office attempted, rather clumsily, to distance his remarks from the current situation in Rivers State,” the party said.

It faulted attempts by the vice president’s aides to walk back his statement.

The LP said it was wrong to feign ignorance of the fact that Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which regulates the declaration of a state of emergency, remains unchanged.

According to the party, the section does not give the president the power to sack any sitting governor, emergency or not.

It maintained that Shettima’s observation rightly underscored what it called the illegal removal of the Rivers governor, Siminalayi Fubara, earlier in March.

The party accused President Bola Tinubu of hiding under political instability and chaos to undermine Fubara’s mandate.

The ADC hailed Shettima’s “rare moment of honesty” and urged public officials to always uphold the constitution.