Former presidential aide Laolu Akande has urged Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara to personally challenge his suspension by President Bola Tinubu, rather than waiting for his party’s governors to take action.
Akande argued that if Tinubu had faced a similar situation during his tenure as Lagos State governor from 1999 to 2007, he would have swiftly gone to the Supreme Court to challenge the move.
Speaking on Channels Television programme, he recalled how Tinubu, then an opposition governor, stood his ground against former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s seizure of local government funds.
The former presidential spokesman expressed disappointment that Fubara did not take the initiative to contest his six-month suspension in court, leaving it to seven governors from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to file a legal challenge on his behalf.
“It’s a good move what the governors of the PDP have done. They probably would be able to save the day. But I’m surprised that Governor Fubara himself is sitting down. If somebody did this
to Bola Ahmed Tinubu when he was governor of Lagos, do you know what he would be doing?
“He (Fubara) should be the first to go to court; he is still the governor, he still has a status; he’s not been removed. He couldn’t be removed that way. There is a questionable suspension,” Akande said.
He further criticized Fubara’s response, stating that an elected governor should not simply accept a suspension imposed by an elected president.
“The first thing Governor Fubara ought to do if he knew what he was doing was to go to court. And to tell his people that what has happened in Rivers State is against the law but he couldn’t find the courage.
“How can I be a governor and the president who was also elected is asking me to go away?
“Of course, I will go away so that there is no trouble but I will go to the courts. And I will tell my people, you elected me, the president has asked me to go to court. It is wrong and I will fight it. That is how we can build democracy. It is not about people in Agbada (flowing gown),” he added.