Shettima’s “You don’t have powers to remove a sitting governor” rattles Tinubu kitchen cabinet

By Kingston Magare 11-7-2025
Vice President Kashim Shettima’s remarks that Presidents do not have powers to remove a sitting governor has caused a stir in the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Mr. Shettima during a book launch in Abuja on Thursday had made the remarks while narrating how former President Goodluck Jonathan was contemplating to remove him from office due to insecurity in Borno State where he was governor.
Political commentators were quick to seize on the remarks to remind President Tinubu that his suspension of Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State was unconstitutional. This did not rub off well with the presidency.
In a statement on Friday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, said Shettima’s remarks had nothing to do with Fubara’s removal adding the media interpretations were “gross misrepresentation” and “reckless endangerment of national cohesion.”
“Some news outlets have irresponsibly twisted the Vice President’s account of how the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan floated the idea of removing him from office… during the most intense and critical phase of insurgency in the North East,” the statement said.
“President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional action taken was suspension, and not outright removal.
“It was part of the measures implemented… in response to the grave circumstances surrounding the polity in Rivers State at the time.
“Vice President Shettima’s remarks were historical references… and constituted nothing more than an intellectual discourse on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution,” he said.
Nkwocha also defended the legality of President Tinubu’s intervention in Rivers State, noting that it was done in accordance with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution following security threats and political instability in the state.
“President Tinubu followed the constitutional process with honest precision. The President’s proclamation properly invoked Section 305(2), which was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly,” he stated.