By Peter Omopo
A constitutional controversy has erupted following President Bola Tinubu’s presentation of the 2025 Appropriation Bill for Rivers State to the National Assembly, with several Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) declaring the move unconstitutional and a breach of Nigeria’s federal structure.
President Tinubu, on Thursday, formally sought Senate approval for a N1.48 trillion budget for Rivers State, which has been under emergency rule since March. The request, read on the Senate floor by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, outlined major allocations including N324 billion for infrastructure, N166 billion for health (with N5 billion set aside for free medication), N75.6 billion for education, and N31.4 billion for agriculture. The proposal also includes the creation of 6,000 jobs.
The President’s justification hinged on Regulation 4, Subsection 2(f) of the Emergency Rule 2025 provisions, which he said requires federal legislative oversight of state finances during periods of emergency governance.
But leading legal minds have pushed back.
Femi Falana (SAN) said the action violates Section 81 of the 1999 Constitution, noting that “the President is only empowered to present the federal budget and has no authority over state finances.”
Mike Ozekhome (SAN), a constitutional law expert, went even further, describing both the emergency rule in Rivers and the appointment of a Sole Administrator as “a constitutional aberration.”
“President Tinubu is not the President of Rivers State,” Ozekhome asserted. “A state must have a governor, not a presidential appointee. Nowhere in the Constitution does it empower the President to suspend elected officials or appoint a Sole Administrator. This is a constitutional anomaly.”
The development has sparked nationwide debate over the limits of presidential power and the sanctity of Nigeria’s federal structure, with many legal experts calling for urgent judicial interpretation of the emergency rule mechanism.
