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The Supreme Court has unequivocally ruled that Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution does not grant the President the power to suspend or dissolve democratic structures in any state of the federation under emergency rule.

This clarification was highlighted by human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana, while reacting to the apex court’s judgment delivered on December 15, 2025, in Attorney-General of Adamawa State & 19 Others v Attorney-General of the Federation (Suit No. SC/CV/329/2025).

Falana explained that although the Supreme Court dismissed the suit on the procedural ground that the plaintiffs lacked the requisite locus standi, the court nonetheless went further to pronounce on the substantive constitutional questions raised. He stressed that contrary to widespread media reports, the judgment did not validate the suspension or dissolution of state executive or legislative arms during a declaration of emergency.

According to Falana, the lead judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Baba Idris was explicit in holding that Section 305 of the Constitution confers no such powers on the President. The court firmly rejected any interpretation that emergency rule authorises the takeover or displacement of democratically elected state institutions.

Justice Idris emphasised that the Nigerian Constitution clearly separates governmental powers among the executive, legislature and judiciary, while also distributing authority across the federal, state and local government tiers.

“By virtue of Sections 4–7 of the Constitution, governmental powers are divided among the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, and distributed across the Federal, State and Local Government tiers. No arm or tier of government is constitutionally superior to another, and none may lawfully usurp the powers expressly vested in another,” the court held.

The Supreme Court further noted that, unlike the constitutions of countries such as India and Pakistan, Nigeria’s Constitution deliberately withholds any power allowing the President to assume or displace state executive or legislative institutions during a state of emergency. This, the court said, reflects Nigeria’s deliberate commitment to federalism and the constitutional autonomy of states.

Falana urged the media and the public to accurately represent the Supreme Court’s decision, warning that distortions of judicial pronouncements could erode constitutional governance and mislead citizens about the true state of the law.