Shettima’s book launch remarks was misconstrued not related to Fubara’s suspension – Presidency
The Presidency has denied tying Vice President Kashim Shettima’s statements at a book launch in Abuja to current events in Rivers State involving Governor Siminalayi Fubara and President Bola Tinubu.
In a statement issued Friday, Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), condemned the media interpretations as “gross misrepresentation” and “reckless endangerment of national cohesion.”
Shettima addressed during the public presentation of “OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block,” a book published by former Attorney General of the Federation Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on Thursday.
According to Nkwocha, the Vice President referred to a historical incident during the Jonathan administration in which there were purported attempts to oust him as Governor of Borno State during the height of the Boko Haram conflict.
He clarified that Shettima’s statements were intended to acknowledge Adoke’s function as a public officer rather than to comment on current political happenings.
“Some news outlets have irresponsibly twisted the Vice President’s account of how former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration floated the idea of removing him from office, then as governor of Borno State, during the most intense and critical phase of the insurgency in the country’s North East.
“The sensational reporting disappointingly attempted to erect a highly dubious argument about the state of emergency declared in Rivers State and the subsequent suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara by His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
“We want to make it clear that Vice President Shettima’s remarks were made specifically to acknowledge the author’s previous professional performance while serving as the Federation’s Attorney General. His remarks were historical references to events that transpired during the Jonathan administration, and they amounted to little more than an academic discussion about Nigeria’s constitutional progress.
“This rare moment of retrospection was purely illustrative, intended to demonstrate how our constitutional democracy has matured within the capacity to resolve complex federal-state tensions through established legal mechanisms,” according to a statement.
According to PUNCH Online, several media reports took Shettima’s statement as a veiled criticism of Tinubu’s recent declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, which resulted in Governor Fubara’s suspension.
Nkwocha dismissed such a comparison as false and deceptive, claiming that the President did not remove Fubara from office.
“To clarify, President Tinubu did not dismiss Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional action taken was suspension, not complete removal. It was one of the measures put in place, along with the declaration of a state of emergency, in reaction to the dire political situation in Rivers State at the time.
“It is more so considering the unprecedented situation where the State House of Assembly complex was under demolition and the Governor was facing a looming threat of impeachment (outright removal from office) from the embattled members of the state legislature,” stated Mr. Miller.
Nkwocha also supported the validity of President Tinubu’s intervention in Rivers State, stating that it was carried out in conformity with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution in response to security threats and political instability.
“President Tinubu followed the constitutional process with honesty and precision. “The President’s proclamation properly invoked Section 305(2), which was then ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly,” he said.
The statement ended by encouraging the media and political actors to avoid politicising Shettima’s words or inciting strife inside the administration.
“Vice President Shettima stands shoulder to shoulder with President Tinubu in implementing these difficult but indispensable actions to safeguard our democracy,” according to Nkwocha.