Supreme Court Upholds President’s Power to Declare State of Emergency, Suspend Elected Governors, Others

• In a split six-to-one ruling, the Supreme Court has upheld the President’s constitutional authority to declare a state of emergency and, where necessary, temporarily suspend elected state officials to restore order.

The Supreme Court on Monday affirmed the constitutional powers of the President to declare a state of emergency in any part of the country to prevent a breakdown of law and order or a slide into chaos and anarchy.

In a majority decision of six to one, the apex court held that the President is empowered under the 1999 Constitution to proclaim a state of emergency and adopt extraordinary measures to restore normalcy.

The court further ruled that, during such a period, the President may suspend elected officials, provided such suspensions are for a limited duration.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Mohammed Idris relied on Section 305 of the Constitution, which he said grants the President wide discretion to act decisively once a state of emergency has been declared.

He noted that while the Constitution authorises extraordinary measures, it does not clearly define their scope, thereby leaving the nature of such actions to the President’s judgment.

The ruling followed a suit filed by Attorneys-General of states governed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who challenged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.

The declaration had resulted in the suspension of elected state officials for six months. The Supreme Court had reserved judgment in the matter in October.

The plaintiffs included the Attorneys-General of Adamawa, Enugu, Osun, Oyo, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Plateau, Delta, Taraba, Zamfara, and Bayelsa states, while the defendants were the Federal Government and the National Assembly. The suit, marked SC/CV/329/2025, was brought on eight grounds.

Among other reliefs, the plaintiffs asked the court to determine whether the President has the constitutional authority to suspend a democratically elected governor, deputy governor, and state legislature under a state of emergency, or replace them with unelected administrators. They also questioned whether the procedure adopted in the Rivers State emergency declaration violated key provisions of the Constitution.

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In an earlier part of the judgment, Justice Idris upheld the preliminary objections raised by the defendants, holding that the plaintiffs failed to establish a valid cause of action capable of invoking the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction. On this basis, the suit was struck out for want of jurisdiction.

Despite this, the court proceeded to consider the substantive issues and dismissed the case on its merits. The majority agreed that the plaintiffs did not demonstrate the existence of a justiciable dispute between themselves and the Federation.

However, Justice Obande Ogbuinya dissented. While he agreed that the President has the constitutional power to declare a state of emergency, he held that such power does not extend to the suspension of elected officials, including governors, deputy governors, and members of state legislatures.