Rivers: Tinubu ends emergency rule, directs Fubara, Deputy, lawmakers to resume offices

*President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, thanks all the stakeholders in Rivers State, declares Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Nma Odu, and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and Speaker Martins Amaewhule will resume work in their offices effective from Thursday, September 18, 2025

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The Federal Government of Nigeria has ended the six-month-long State of Emergency earlier declared in Rivers State, South-South region of the country.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, said this in a statement he personally signed and issued Wednesday, September 17, 2025, on the cessation of the emergency in Rivers.

It is recalled that President Tinubu, March 18, 2025, had proclaimed a state of emergency in the South-South state.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR

In his proclamation address at the time, the Nigerian leader highlighted the reasons for the declaration.

Tinubu had said there was a total paralysis of governance in state, which had led to the Governor of Rivers State and the House of Assembly being unable to work together due to political differences.

Thanking all the stakeholders, the President stated: “I am happy today (Wednesday) 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.”

Governor Fubara, Deputy Governor and state legislators resume offices

Justifying the reason why the state of emergency in Rivers should not exist a day longer than the six months he had pronounced since March 18 this year, President Tinubu declared: “It, therefore, gives me great pleasure to declare that the emergency in Rivers State of Nigeria shall end with effect from midnight today.

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He further affirmed Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Nma Odu, and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and Speaker Martins Amaewhule will resume work in their offices effective from Thursday, September 18, 2025.

Tinubu stated: “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.

“I implore all of you to let this realisation drive your actions at all times.”

On genesis of governance crisis in Rivers

The Nigerian Government also noted that critical economic assets of Rivers State, including oil pipelines and other installations were being vandalised.

Besides, 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.

President Tinubu, in his statement on the cessation of the Rivers emergency rule Wednesday, recalled: “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.

He said: “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.”

The President stated: “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.

He as well noted that is the way it should be in a democratic setting, explaining that 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, he noted.

The President said: “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 unrealisable in an atmosphere of violence, anarchy, and insecurity borne by misguided political activism and Machiavellian manipulations among the stakeholders.”

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