- Safiu Kehinde
Vice President Kashim Shettima has clarified his alleged connection of his statement on how he was nearly removed as Borno State Governor under former President Goodluck Jonathan to the suspension of Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, by President Bola Tinubu.
Shettima had yesterday, at the book presentation of former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, recounted how ex-President Jonathan plotted to remove him during his tenure as Borno State Governor amid the surge of terrorism attacks in the state in 2011.
The Vice President revealed how former Speaker of House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, and the ex-AGF under the Jonathan administration had stood up for him, telling the President he has no power to impeach him.
“The last four years of the Jonathan administration, I was a demonised person. I was the public enemy number one. And there are two gentlemen seated here. Certain decisions were taken. The President, the Vice President, the Senate President, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“In one of such conflict, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR with whom I have sheathe the sword and have now recalibrated our relationship, was muting the idea of removing this Borno governor. And Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, had the courage to tell the Presidency that your Excellency, you don’t have the power to remove an elected councillor.
“The President was still not convinced. He muted the idea at the Federal Executive Council. I admire Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoki fundamentally for his courage and convictions and for his capacity to stand for what he believes in.
“He told the then President that Mr
President, you do not have the power to remove a sitting governor, not even a councillor.
“The sought for opinion of another ACN in the cabinet, Kabiru Turaki, who said I’m concurring with the opinion of my senior colleague. That was how the matter was laid to rest. But that was how my relationship with Mr. Bello Adoki and Aminu Tambuwal became eternally sealed.” Shettima had said.
This had however sparked reactions with reports linking the narrative as Shettima’s indirect shade thrown at Tinubu’s suspension of Fubara.
Reacting to the claims in a statement issued by his spokesperson, Stanley Nkwocha, on Friday, Shettima debunked the connection between his statement and Fubara’s suspension.
The Vice President labelled the reports as gross misrepresentation of his address.
Expressing his disappointment with the reports, Shettima explained that his comments were made within the specific context of acknowledging Adoki’s past professional conduct during his tenure as Attorney General of the Federation.
He described his recall of the incident as historical references to events that occurred during the Jonathan administration, and constituted nothing more than an intellectual discourse on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution.
While faulting the reports, Shettima explained that Tinubu never removed Fubara but only suspended the Rivers governor which, according to him, was constitutionally backed.
The statement read; “The Office of the Vice President has noted with stern concern the gross misrepresentation of the remarks made by His Excellency, Senator Kashim Shettima, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, during the public presentation of the book, “OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block,” by Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), the Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, on Thursday, July 10, 2025.
“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, then as governor of Borno State, in the most intense and critical phase of insurgency in the North East region of the country.
“The sensational reporting disappointingly tried to erect a highly mendacious 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 wish to state categorically that Vice President Shettima’s comments were made within the specific context of acknowledging the author’s past professional conduct during his tenure as Attorney General of the Federation. His remarks were historical references to events that occurred during the Jonathan administration, and constituted nothing more than an intellectual discourse on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution.
“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.
“For the avoidance of doubt, 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, including the state of emergency declared, in response to the grave circumstances surrounding the polity 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.”
Shetti explained that the Rivers political crisis is different for the NorthEast insurgency which led to the declaration of State of Emergency in Borno.
“This cannot be compared with the situation in the North East region under the Jonathan administration, where violent non-state actors were challenging the sovereignty of the Nigerian state and required collective action from the central government and subnationals to eliminate the terrorists. President Tinubu’s actions were taken within the constitutional framework and in consultation with relevant stakeholders to preserve democratic institutions and maintain peace in Rivers State.
“Our laws provide an explicit framework for comprehending these matters with the nuance they deserve. Section 305(1)(c) explicitly authorises measures to be taken when there is “a breakdown of public order and public safety in the federation or any part thereof to such extent as to require extraordinary measures to restore peace and security.”
“The steep descent into chaos in Rivers State had reached precisely this constitutional threshold, with daily incidents of politically motivated violence, systematic attacks on federal institutions, and complete paralysis of governance, creating conditions that no democratic society could reasonably tolerate.
“Worse still, it degenerated into attacks on national assets, according to credible security reports.
“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 as mandated by Section 305(3).
“This broad cross-party consensus demonstrates the universal recognition among our elected representatives that Rivers State had reached a point of constitutional necessity that demanded immediate federal intervention.” He explained.
The Vice President reiterated that his misinterpreted statement focused on the importance of public officials documenting their stewardship and the eternal nature of accountability
“Therefore, to interpret Senator Shettima’s observations as commentary on current affairs represents either willful misinterpretation or ignorance of constitutional discourse.
“The Vice President’s speech was focused on the importance of public officials documenting their stewardship and the eternal nature of accountability in public service. His historical references were made to illustrate the principled positions taken by public servants in the past, not a criticism of government policies.
So, the cynical attempt to distort academic commentary to appear as imagined criticism is not only deplorable but constitutes a reckless endangerment of our national cohesion. We emphasise that this administration remains unshakably united in its commitment to constitutional governance and the rule of law.
“Vice President Shettima stands shoulder to shoulder with President Tinubu in implementing these difficult but indispensable actions to safeguard our democracy.
“We implore media organisations and political actors to abandon the destructive practice of wrenching statements from their proper context to fabricate nonexistent conflicts.” He added