Inibehe Effiong: Nigerian Governors Wield more Dictatorial Power and Corruption than the President

Nigerian lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has criticized state governors, stating they are “more dictatorial and corrupt than the President” and that no House of Assembly in Nigeria can challenge or oppose them.  

Speaking on ARISE NEWS, Effiong reacted to the Supreme Court ruling on the Rivers crisis, where Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s appeal was dismissed. He said, “I think Fubara clearly knows that this is the fight of survival. He knows that there is no alternative to what is going on… this is a fight between Wike and Fubara.”  

He condemned the lawmakers’ allegiance to former Governor Nyesom Wike, saying, “Why should lawmakers of Nigeria still be holding to governors?” Effiong likened the situation in Rivers to Lagos and Zamfara, stating, “Governors in Nigeria are more dictatorial than the President… There is no House of Assembly in Nigeria today that can hold a governor accountable, not one.”  

Effiong described the crisis as an “interplay of law and politics” and noted that while the court must clarify legal questions, the real battle remains political. He stressed, “The question of defection arose after the issue of the budget… The precedents have been clear from 2007, reaffirmed in 2014, that the issue of defection is automatic.”  

He criticized the President’s intervention, arguing it was bound to fail. “You cannot be mediating and subjecting a governor to conditions that violate the constitution,” he said. “The President knew he was sending Fubara to the jungle, and these conditions were never going to be met.”  

Effiong concluded by lamenting the impact on governance. “While we are having all these debates, there are real governance issues that need to be attended to in Rivers State,” he said. “Fubara wants to have his own way, and now, he is being told it must be the way Wike wants it to be.”