…Says Tambuwal, Adoke stopped unconstitutional move
Vice President Kashim Shettima has claimed that former President Goodluck Jonathan once considered removing him from office as Governor of Borno State during a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, in what he described as one of the most politically charged moments of his tenure.
Shettima, who served as governor from 2011 to 2019, made the disclosure in Abuja on Thursday during the public presentation of OPL 245: Inside Story of the $1.3bn Nigeria Oil Block, a new book authored by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN).
Recalling the pressures he faced during the final years of the Jonathan administration, Shettima said: “In the last four years of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, I was the most demonised person; I was public enemy number one.”
He stated that Jonathan had first raised the possibility of his removal in a closed-door meeting involving the President, Vice President, Senate President, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“In one of such conclaves, former President Goodluck Jonathan, with whom we have now reconciled and recalibrated our relationship, was considering the removal of this Borno governor,” Shettima recounted.
According to him, it was the then Speaker of the House, Hon Aminu Tambuwal, who immediately pushed back against the idea.
“Aminu Tambuwal had the courage to tell the President, ‘Your Excellency, you don’t have the powers to remove an elected councillor,’” Shettima said.
The Vice President further revealed that the suggestion resurfaced at a Federal Executive Council meeting, where it was firmly rejected by then Attorney General, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN).
“He told the President, ‘Mr President, you do not have the constitutional authority to remove a sitting governor, not even a councillor,’” Shettima recounted.
Another senior legal figure in the cabinet, Kabiru Turaki (SAN), also reportedly backed Adoke’s legal opinion.
“They sought the opinion of Kabiru Turaki, another SAN in the cabinet, who said, ‘I concur with my senior colleague.’ And that was how the issue was settled,” Shettima said.
Reflecting on the incident, Shettima said it laid the groundwork for a bond of mutual respect with both Adoke and Tambuwal, praising them for their integrity and willingness to uphold constitutional principles in the face of political pressure.
He also commended Adoke for his strength of character and capacity to forgive, describing it as a rare quality in Nigerian public life.
The event was held to unveil OPL 245, a 26-chapter investigative account of the contentious $1.3 billion Malabu oil deal, involving oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni in Nigeria’s prized deep-water oil block, OPL 245. The block is believed to hold reserves of up to nine billion barrels of crude.
