In a surprising move the Venezuelan opposition is calling a coup, the Venezuelan Supreme Court has stripped the country's National Assembly of its powers. The court ruled that all powers vested under the legislative body will be transferred to the Supreme Court, which is stacked with government loyalists.

The ruling effectively means the three branches of the Venezuelan government will be controlled by the ruling United Socialist Party. The opposition has been taken out of the picture.

Prominent opposition leaders are already calling the government of President Nicolás Maduro "a dictatorship."
"Nicolás Maduro has staged a coup d'état," National Assembly President Julio Borges said Thursday. "What this ruling means is that, for the first time, Nicolás Maduro has all the power to enact laws, assign contracts, incur foreign debt and persecute fellow Venezuelans."
Maduro spoke about the ruling in a message broadcast live Thursday on the government's TV network.
"They're giving me and authorizing me, enabling special powers that stem out of the state of emergency clauses in our constitution. This is an order by the Supreme Court. It's a historic ruling," Maduro said.
The ruling sent shock waves across the region. The Peruvian government broke off diplomatic relations with Venezuela over the matter, recalling Mariano López Chávarry, its ambassador to Caracas.
In a statement issued by Peru's Foreign Ministry, Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski called the court ruling "an arbitrary measure that disrupts the rule of law and constitutes a breakup of the constitutional and democratic order."
The Supreme Court ruling says the judicial branch will execute all legislative powers that normally belong to the National Assembly, which has had an opposition majority since January 2016.
"Let it be known that, as long as the contempt situation persists and the National Assembly actions are invalidated, this constitutional court will guarantee that all parliamentary functions will be exercised by this court, or an institution designed by it, in order to safeguard the rule of law," the court wrote.
The court declared the National Assembly in contempt last year for swearing in three legislators from Amazonas state. Their elections were deemed invalid by the court.
Former presidential candidate and opposition leader Henrique Capriles denounced the ruling while on a trip to neighboring Colombia on Thursday.
"In Venezuela, we have a government operating outside the constitution. There's now a dictatorship in Venezuela. They have crossed the line," Capriles said.
Scuffles broke out outside the Venezuelan Supreme Court building Thursday afternoon, with anti-government protesters trying to storm the facility as the National Guard blocked access. Some protesters yelled at the guards, using expletives and calling them "traitors to the motherland."

Sources cnn

Can we have this same thing in Nigeria

"They're giving me and authorizing me, enabling special powers that stem out of the state of emergency clauses in our constitution. This is an order by the Supreme Court. It's a historic ruling," Maduro said.





This is d northern president's brother!

I will be very happy if our supreme court dissolve the office of the president.

So bkoz de did it , we should follow suit abi? American is practising federalism were all state control her resources , let's emulate dat one too. U buharians , ur hypocrisy knows no bound. Wen ijaws and other other tribes down south shout out for resource control, u barbarians especially from d waste always shout dem down. U want us to dissolve d national assembly, was it not same national assembly obj, yaradua and GEJ worked with. It shows d problem is from d barbarian(Buhari) not d assembly

We need this really badly. . .our senators are just so expensive to maintain and they don't give us any real value