Rivers ’emergency rule’ and return of Fubara, others September 18
By Ehichioya Ezomon
All things being equal (ceteris paribus), the suspended democratic institutions in Rivers State – the executive and legislative arms of government – will be restored by Thursday, September 18, 2025, exactly six months after President Bola Tinubu declared a near-marshall rule over the state.
In nature, however, all things aren’t equal, especially when human beings and their affairs, like politics, are involved, such as in Nigeria, to define and dictate the immediate and unearned sources of power, wealth, influence and fame that the possessors wield recklessly over the people they’re supposed to serve.
These were (and still are) the issues in the Rivers crisis, and it’s why in the murky scenario, it’s the powerful and influential individuals, rather than the mandated institutions of government, that first wetted the people’s expectation for the return of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and other affected officials on September 18.
The Rivers crisis that spanned 18 months (December 2023 to May 2025) escalated on daily, weekly, and monthly basis, culminating, in mid May 2025, in the blowup of oil installations in the state, and threats by ex-militants sympathetic to Fubara to spread the attacks across the oil-bearing Niger Delta.
On the first day of the assaults, there’s an explosion at a section of the Trans Niger Pipeline in the Bodo Community of Gokana LGA; and another blast the next day, severing a pipeline manifold in the Omwawriwa axis of Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni LGA, both in Rivers State.
That’s when President Tinubu stepped in and declared a state of emergency, suspending the executive and legislative arms of the Rivers government, and appointing a sole administrator to run the affairs of the state. The emergency rule was later approved by the National Assembly.
Tinubu, armed with Intel from an emergency meeting with security and intelligence chiefs at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, earlier in the day, cited prolonged political instability, constitutional breaches, and security threats as reasons for the extraordinary measure.
According to the President: “The latest security reports made available to me show that between yesterday and today, there have been disturbing incidents of vandalization of pipelines by some militants without the governor taking any action to curtail them. I have, of course, given stern order to the security agencies to ensure safety of lives of the good people of Rivers State and the oil pipelines.
“With all these and many more, no good and responsible President will standby and allow the grave situation to continue without taking remedial steps prescribed by the Constitution to address the situation in the state, which no doubt requires extraordinary measures to restore good governance, peace, order and security.”
Having soberly reflected on and evaluated the political situation in Rivers, Tinubu noted the failure of Governor Fubara and Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu to make a request to him, as President, “to issue this proclamation as required by section 305(5) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.”
“It has become inevitably compelling for me to invoke the provision of section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State with effect from today, 18th March, 2025 and I so do,” Tinubu said.
The President added: “By this declaration, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu and all elected members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State are hereby suspended for an initial period of six months.
“In the meantime, I hereby nominate Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas (Rtd) as Administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state in the interest of the good people of Rivers State. For the avoidance of doubt, this declaration does not affect the judicial arm of Rivers State, which shall continue to function in accordance with their constitutional mandate.”
The presidential fiat – which’s still subject of litigation in the courts – mostly directly hit Governor Fubara and the Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Martin Amaewhule, who were unable to manage their political differences deliberately contrived, fueled and orchestrated by external forces.
Other collateral victims were Prof. Odu, and members of the Fubara administration; other members of the Rivers House of Assembly; and the entire Rivers people, who didn’t vote for the ego-filled power struggle in government, but for the delivery of “democracy dividend” to alleviate their status and station in life.
Six months down the line, hints about the restoration of democratic order in Rivers State literally came unambiguously and emphatically “straight from the horse’s mouth” – the main gladiator in the crisis, former Governor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Chief Nyesom Wike.
After casting his ballot at Saturday, August 30, 2025, Local Government Area (LGA) chairmanship and councillorship election in Rivers, and expressing satisfaction with its peaceful conduct, Wike announced, with a flourish, that the coast was clear for the return of the suspended arms of government.
His words: “I am very happy. It means that people identify with the election. You have not heard of any violence or ballot box-snatching. Electoral materials are present, people are casting their votes, and the process is going on peacefully. That’s what matters.
“So, having done this, the coast is clear for the state of emergency to be lifted. The local government now has representatives, the state government has its own elected officials, so we are good to go.”
Wike’s every reason to be ecstatic about the poll (and its favourable outcome for the chapter of opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers) as one of the conditions for the return of peace, and resumption of duties by Fubara and other officials of the government.
The council election replaced a previous exercise conducted, pre-declaration of the emergency rule, by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), which’s struck down in court for non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
In the dissolved council election, coming in the heat of the “fight-to-finish between Wike and Fubara, 22 of the 23 local government chairmanships went to the Allied Peoples Party (APP) – reportedly backed by Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a “placeholder” for his re-election in 2027 should he be denied the ticket under the Wike-controlled PDP in Rivers.
For the fresh council election, Wike reportedly demanded the nomination of candidates, with 20 councils, on poll day, going to the APC, and three councils won by the PDP. (Wike, who works under an APC government as a minister, had worked for the same party in the 2023 General Election to secure the winning votes for then-candidate Tinubu in Rivers).
The APC also claimed the Opobo-Nkoro LGA, the home council of Governor Fubara, who reportedly turned down a few positions Wike had offered him to fill, and travelled out of the country during the election.
As Fubara’s return was being excitedly awaited by his aides, supporters and the entire citizenry, expectations were also tempered amidst alleged plans to extend the emergency rule beyond September 18.
This was even as Rivers Sole Administrator Ibas has had a closed-door meeting with President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where he’s reportedly given “a marching order to submit a comprehensive handover note of his six-month emergency rule” before the end of Tinubu’s 10-day vacation abroad.
Quoting presidency sources, Westafrica Business News reported on September 10, 2025, that Ibas was “directed to prepare a comprehensive handover note covering all funds inherited from the suspended government, revenues accrued during the emergency rule, and expenditures on projects.”
The sources also disclosed that Fubara’s reinstatement is tied to strict conditions, including to “serve out his current term and vacate office without seeking re-election in 2027; accept Wike’s leadership and agree that he nominate candidates for all local government positions for the August 30 council election across the state.”
Additionally, Fubara is said to have agreed to “pay all outstanding allowances and entitlements of the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers suspended from the House of Assembly,” while “the legislators are expected to cooperate with him to complete his tenure.”
While official statement on the reinstatement of Governor Fubara and other affected officials of the Rivers government was yet to be made as of Friday, September 12, Ibas brought some hope for cheers when he stated that the presidential mandate given to him to stabilize Rivers had been “decisively achieved.”
At the presentation of a comprehensive report of the local government election by the RSIEC, Ibas noted that the peaceful conduct of the poll, and swearing-in of elected chairmen and councillors marked the fulfillment of the presidential directive he received on March 18, 2025.
Ibas said: “Mr. President’s mandate to me was clear: to stabilize the state, create an enabling environment for the re-establishment of its institutions, and return Rivers State back to full democratic governance. With the successful conduct and swearing-in of local government chairmen and their councils, I believe we have decisively achieved that mandate.
“For once, an election was conducted where nobody was harassed, where people went out freely to express themselves and to select whom they wanted as their leaders. This is a testament to the peaceful and enabling environment we have collectively fostered.”
Then came Saturday, September 13, and an official statement was released by the Rivers State Government, for an interdenominational church thanksgiving service on Sunday, September 14, as part of the transition activities.
Signed by the Secretary to State Government (SSG), Prof. Ibibia Lucky Worika, the statement invited permanent secretaries, local government chairmen, heads of state security, paramilitary agencies, traditional rulers, chairmen and members of boards and captains of industries.
The statement, which named Rivers Administrator, Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd), as the Special Guest of Honour, said the thanksgiving would hold at the Ecumenical Centre, Abonima Wharf Road, Port Harcourt, at 10am, with all guests asked to be seated by 9:30am.
Wike and Fubara’s behind-the-scenes tussle for power, influence and control of resources of Rivers State became public in late 2023, barely six months after Fubara assumed office as Governor, succeeding Wike, who did a yeoman’s job of “anointing” and “single-handedly” campaigning for him in the March 2023 governorship poll.
But the godfather and godson soon trod different paths due to alleged irreconcilable differences that stemmed from Fubara breaking the “terms of agreement” to cede “juicy portfolios” in his cabinet to Wike, plus other controlling interests in the overall governance of the state.
The quarrel over “agreement is agreement” – often ascribed to Wike to portray Fubara as a “betrayer” – got to a head when attempts to impeach Fubara by the Speaker Amaewhule-led 27 members of Rivers Assembly loyal to Wike were resisted by five members in the Fubara camp, who declared the 27 lawmakers’ seats vacant.
To stem further attempts to impeach him, Fubara allegedly ordered the demolition of the Rivers Assembly, and, in anticipation of also pulling it down, visited the Legislative Quarters housing Rivers lawmakers, used by the 27 members as a temporary Chamber for their plenary.
In the interim, the governor had allocated space at the Government House in Port Harcourt, Rivers capital city, to the four, later three members loyal to him, to carry out legislative duties meant for the 32-member Assembly, including screening and confirmation of Commissioners and other appointees, and the consideration and passage of the Rivers State Budget within 24 hours.
It’s no surprise that the Supreme Court, on February 28, 2025, ruled that the pro-Wike 27 lawmakers remained valid members of the Rivers Assembly. Faulting Fubara’s actions as being unconstitutional and despotic, the court noted that the state had collapsed “into one-man rule due to the absence of a functioning legislature.”
Efforts at finding a truce to the tolling crisis were met in the breach, including disdain for the high-profile intervention by President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, where a 10-point agreement signed by the major actors to the dispute weren’t implemented to the letter.
The last straw came in the wake of the local government election, which’s preceded by conflicting court orders, with the Federal High Court in Abuja barring the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing election materials and equipment to the RSIEC, and the Police from providing security for the election.
Though the poll held peacefully, and its outcome hailed by the Rivers government as a democratic victory, what presaged and postdated the franchise was a step away from total anarchy, which President Tinubu decisively aborted in the bud on May 18, 2025.
Except the National Assembly is involved in the process, which may add another layer and dimension to the waiting game, all is set for the President to give an all-clear for the return to power of the suspended institutions and officials of government in Rivers State.
With effusive excitement in the air across Rivers and beyond over the lifting of its emergency rule, it’s hoped that useful and enduring lessons have been learned by the antagonists and protagonists in the crisis, to avoid going back into the rabbit hole of “All things being equal,” which aren’t feasible and possible in human affairs!
* _Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
