<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The presidency on Friday debunked what it called a misrepresentation of the comments of Vice President Kashim Shettima during the launch of ex Minister Mohammed Adoke’s book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A statement by Stanley Nkwocha
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Communications
(Spokesman of the Vice President) said his boss’ remarks were no criticism of President Tinubu. According to Nkwocha, “Vice President Shettima stands in loyal concert with President Tinubu in implementing these difficult but necessary actions to safeguard our democracy. We urge media organisations and political actors to desist from the destructive practice of wrenching statements from context in order to fabricate nonexistent conflicts.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The presidential statement titled: “No Link Between VP Shettima\u2019s Remarks At Book Launch And Certain Online Reports ” also further said: “The Office of the Vice President @officialSKSM
has noted with serious concern the gross misrepresentation of remarks made by His Excellency, Senator Kashim Shettima, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, during the public presentation of the book \u201cOPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block\u201d by Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), held at the Yar\u2019Adua Centre, Abuja, on Thursday, July 10, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Certain online news outlets and individuals have distorted the Vice President\u2019s comments in pursuit of a mischievous agenda, twisting his account of how the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan considered removing him from office\u2014then as Governor of Borno State\u2014at the height of the insurgency in the North East region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This sensational reporting, which strips the Vice President\u2019s remarks of their proper context, ventures into fiction by drawing false equivalence between his personal experience and the state of emergency declared in Rivers State, as well as the subsequent suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
@officialABAT
, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the Presidency, “We wish to state categorically that Vice President Shettima\u2019s comments were made within the context of acknowledging the author\u2019s professional conduct during his tenure as Attorney General of the Federation\u2014a tribute to his public service record. His remarks were historical references to events during the Jonathan administration and were intended as a discourse on Nigeria\u2019s constitutional evolution. They served to highlight how complex federal-state tensions have been managed through legal mechanisms and the country\u2019s progress in that regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional measure implemented was a suspension, not an outright removal. This action, along with the declaration of a state of emergency, was taken in response to the grave political crisis in Rivers State at the time. The situation was unprecedented, with the State House of Assembly complex under demolition and the Governor facing a looming threat of impeachment by aggrieved members of the legislature. No objective observer can deny that this decisive intervention by the President brought stability and calm to Rivers State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This situation is not comparable to that of the North East under the Jonathan administration, where violent non-state actors were directly challenging the sovereignty of the Nigerian state, demanding unified action by both federal and state authorities to confront terrorism. In contrast, President Tinubu acted strictly within constitutional limits and in consultation with relevant stakeholders to preserve democratic institutions and restore order in Rivers State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Nigeria\u2019s laws provide a clear framework for addressing such matters. Section 305(3)(c) of the Constitution authorises extraordinary measures when there is \u201ca 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The situation in Rivers State clearly met this constitutional threshold, with persistent politically motivated violence, systematic attacks on federal institutions, and near-complete paralysis of governance\u2014conditions intolerable in any democratic society. According to credible security reports, these acts even escalated into attacks on national assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“President Tinubu acted with constitutional fidelity. His proclamation invoking Section 305(2) was ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly, as required by Section 305(3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This cross-party consensus in suspending the government of Rivers State, led by Sim Fubara, reflects a shared understanding among our elected representatives that the situation had reached a point of constitutional necessity, requiring immediate federal intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Clearly, without mincing words, the action of President Tinubu in suspending Mr Fubara and others from exercising the functions of office averted the Governor\u2019s outright removal. To conflate suspension with removal is misleading. Therefore, interpreting Senator Shettima\u2019s remarks as commentary on current events is either a wilful misrepresentation or a deliberate neglect of constitutional context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Vice President, speaking extemporaneously, focused on the importance of public officials documenting their stewardship and on the enduring principle of accountability in public service. His historical references were made to illustrate the principled stands taken by past public servants, as well as his personal ties to Mohammed Bello Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. His remarks were not in any way a criticism of President Tinubu\u2019s actions, which the Vice President and the entire administration fully support and stand by without reservation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The presidency on Friday debunked what it called a misrepresentation of the comments of Vice President Kashim Shettima during the launch of ex Minister Mohammed Adoke’s book. A statement by Stanley NkwochaSenior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Communications(Spokesman of the Vice President) said his boss’ remarks were no criticism of President Tinubu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,46,6],"tags":[4181,4179,4225,4145,4153,4122,4155,4272],"class_list":["post-14993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-context","category-political-economy","tag-bola-ahmed-tinubu","tag-features-writer","tag-nigerian-newspapers","tag-opinion-writing","tag-political-columnist","tag-shettima","tag-time-nigeria","tag-tinubu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/modusoperandum.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Tinubu-and-Shettima-1-1.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14994,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14993\/revisions\/14994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}