By Emmanuel Nduka Obisue
President Bola Tinubu has ended the six-month emergency rule in Rivers State, reinstating Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, to office. Suspended lawmakers of the Rivers State House of Assembly were also directed to resume legislative duties.
The president announced the decision in a nationwide address on Wednesday, with presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga releasing the statement.
Tinubu recalled declaring the emergency rule on March 18, 2025, after a fierce political crisis left governance in Rivers paralysed. The standoff pitched Fubara against 27 lawmakers loyal to the speaker, with only four supporting the governor. The president noted that the crisis crippled governance and left vital economic assets, such as oil pipelines, vulnerable to vandalism.
“The serious constitutional impasse brought governance in the state to a standstill. Even the Supreme Court, in one of its judgments, held that there was no government in Rivers State,” Tinubu said.
He explained that repeated interventions from his office and other stakeholders failed to resolve the impasse, forcing him to invoke Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution. This suspended the offices of the governor, deputy governor, and lawmakers for an initial six-month period. The National Assembly promptly endorsed the proclamation.
President Tinubu acknowledged that over 40 legal challenges were filed in Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Yenagoa to nullify the emergency rule, with some still pending. However, he insisted the move was necessary to prevent total collapse of law and order.
“It would have been a colossal failure on my part as President not to have made that proclamation,” he stated.
With governance now restored to elected leadership, Tinubu urged the executive and legislative arms of Rivers State to bury political hostilities and focus on delivering democracy’s dividends.
“The people who voted us into power expect to reap the fruits of democracy. That expectation will remain unrealizable in an atmosphere of violence, anarchy, and insecurity borne by misguided political activism and Machiavellian manipulations,” he warned.
