President Bola Tinubu has suspended the emergency rule in Rivers state after the expiration of his initial directive.
Tinubu said he suspended the emergency rule in Rivers State after peace returned to the state.
This was contained in a press statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
In the statement, Tinubu said he has directed Siminalayi Fubara to his duties as Governor of Rivers State on Thursday, September 18, 2025.
He also asked Ngozi Nma Odu, the deputy governor, and members of the Rivers state house of assembly to resume their duties.
The statement reads: “I am happy to address you today on the state of emergency declaration in Rivers State. You will recall that on 18th March, 2025, I proclaimed a state of emergency in the state. In my proclamation address, I highlighted the reasons for the declaration. The summary of it for context is that there was a total paralysis of governance in Rivers State, which had led to the Governor of Rivers State and the House of Assembly being unable to work together.
“Critical economic assets of the State, including oil pipelines, were being vandalised. The State House of Assembly was crisis-ridden, such that members of the House were divided into two groups. Four members worked with the Governor, while 27 members opposed the Governor. The latter group supported the Speaker. As a result, the Governor could not present any Appropriation Bill to the House, to enable him to access funds to run Rivers State’s affairs.
“That serious constitutional impasse brought governance in the State to a standstill. Even the Supreme Court, in one of its judgments in a series of cases filed by the Executive and the Legislative arms of Rivers State against each other, held that there was no government in Rivers State. My intervention and that of other well-meaning Nigerians to resolve the conflict proved abortive as both sides stuck rigidly to their positions to the detriment of peace and development of the State.
“It therefore became painfully inevitable that to arrest the drift towards anarchy in Rivers State, I was obligated to invoke the powers conferred on me by Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to proclaim the state of emergency. The Offices of the Governor, Deputy Governor, and elected members of the State House of Assembly were suspended for six months in the first instance. The six months expire today, September 17th, 2025.
“I thank the National Assembly, which, after critically evaluating the justification for the proclamation, took steps immediately, as required by the Constitution, to approve the declaration in the interest of peace and order in Rivers State. I also thank our traditional rulers and the good people of Rivers State for their support from the date of the declaration of the state of emergency until now.
“I am not unaware that there were a few voices of dissent against the proclamation, which led to their instituting over 40 cases in the courts in Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Yenagoa, to invalidate the declaration. That is the way it should be in a democratic setting. Some cases are still pending in the courts as of today.
“But what needs to be said is that the power to declare a state of emergency is an inbuilt constitutional tool to address situations of actual or threatened breakdown of public order and public safety, which require extraordinary measures to return the State to peace, order, and security. Considered objectively, we had reached that situation of total breakdown of public order and public safety in Rivers State, as shown in the judgment of the Supreme Court on the disputes between the Executive and the Legislative arm of Rivers State. It would have been a colossal failure on my part as President not to have made that proclamation.
“As a stakeholder in democratic governance, I believe that the need for a harmonious existence and relationship between the executive and the legislature is key to a successful government, whether at the state or national level. The people who voted us into power expect to reap the fruits of democracy. However, that expectation will remain unrealizable in an atmosphere of violence, anarchy, and insecurity borne by misguided political activism and Machiavellian manipulations among the stakeholders.”
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that this comes after Rivers State has been a hotspot of political instability since late 2023, when tensions erupted between Fubara and his predecessor, the current Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike.
The crisis escalated dramatically in December 2023 after Fubara demolished the state House of Assembly complex.
In a bid to restore order, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency on March 18, 2025, suspending Fubara, his deputy, and House of Assembly members.
Reacting after Tinubu suspended emergency rule in Rivers State, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and 2023 governorship candidate in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has declared that Fubara will exercise “zero powers” upon resuming his duties.
Cole, a prominent businessman and co-founder of Sahara Group, who contested against Fubara in the 2023 elections, claimed that Fubara’s ability to govern independently has been purportedly curtailed, describing the situation as one where the governor would find himself “in a complicated situation” upon resumption.
Cole made this known while speaking with Channels Television on Wednesday.
He said: “We cannot be in a situation where we have an elected governor of a state, like Rivers State, which is a very critical state not just for the people of Rivers but Nigeria as a whole, and what you then see is that you have an elected governor that has zero powers. I don’t think it portends well at all.
“It’s extremely difficult, and I think the governor will be finding himself in a very difficult situation. First of all, the way politics has played out in Nigeria, almost every situation is that a governor, in leaving office, looks for somebody who he believes can continue whatever agenda they had moving forward.
“But time and time again, we find out that where the new governor or whoever has come in as governor is left alone to run his administration, then things progress.
“However, when such doesn’t happen…almost always we have ended up in this whole godfather-godson fight, and it’s never been good for democracy.
“Everywhere that fight has occurred, the people have tended to suffer a lot more. My prayer is that as we come back, because we don’t know what we’re going to see starting from tomorrow, the one thing that we are sure about is that the governor is not in a position to make any decisions.”
