Dare Babalola
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday said there is no reason to extend the emergency rule in Rivers State.
In a statement he personally signed on Wednesday, the president directed Siminalayi Fubara, the suspended governor of Rivers State to resume work on Thursday, September 18.
He also asked Ngozi Nma Odu, the deputy governor, and members of the Rivers state house of assembly to resume their duties.
Tinubu recalled the incidents that led to the declaration of the emergency rule on March 18, 2025, stressing that the decision was due to a constitutional impasse between the governor and the House of Assembly, which led to a total paralysis of governance.
The president in the evening of March 18 directed Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd) to take over as the Sole Administrator of Rivers State.
However, in today’s statement, Tinubu said, “I am happy today that, from the intelligence available to me, there is a groundswell of a new spirit of understanding, a robust readiness, and potent enthusiasm on the part of all the stakeholders in Rivers State for an immediate return to democratic governance.
“This is undoubtedly a welcome development for me and a remarkable achievement for us. I therefore do not see why the state of emergency should exist a day longer than the six months I had pronounced at the beginning of it.
“It therefore gives me great pleasure to declare that the emergency in Rivers State of Nigeria shall end with effect from midnight today.”
The President cited the need for a harmonious existence and relationship between the executive and the legislature as key to a successful government.
He emphasised that “the people who voted us into power expect to reap the fruits of democracy. However, that expectation will remain unrealisable in an atmosphere of violence, anarchy, and insecurity borne by misguided political activism and Machiavellian manipulations among the stakeholders.”
With the state of emergency coming to an end, Governor Fubara, his deputy Odu, members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, and the speaker, Martins Amaewhule, will resume work on September 18, 2025.
Furthermore, President Tinubu urged governors and houses of assembly across the country to prioritise peace, order, and good governance, saying, “I take this opportunity to remind the Governors and the Houses of Assembly of all the States of our country to continue to appreciate that it is only in an atmosphere of peace, order, and good government that we can deliver the dividends of democracy to our people.”
