President Bola Tinubu has announced the end of the six-month state of emergency imposed on Rivers State, declaring that Governor Siminalayi Fubara; his deputy, Ngozi Nma Odu, and members of the State House of Assembly will return to office from Thursday, September 18, 2025.
Tinubu, in a statement released on Wednesday by the Presidency, said the state of emergency, first proclaimed on March 18, 2025, was necessary to arrest the “total paralysis of governance” that had gripped Rivers at the time.
“It therefore gives me great pleasure to declare that the emergency in Rivers State of Nigeria shall end with effect from midnight today.
“The Governor, His Excellency Siminalayi Fubara, the deputy governor, Her Excellency Ngozi Nma Odu, and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and the speaker, Martins Amaewhule, will resume work in their offices from 18 September 2025,” he said.
He recalled that a conflict between the governor and 27 lawmakers loyal to the House Speaker had left the state without a functioning government, with the Supreme Court even affirming in one of its rulings that “there was no government in Rivers 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,” Tinubu said.
He explained that the intervention, which suspended the offices of the governor, deputy governor, and all members of the State House of Assembly, was backed by the National Assembly and aimed at restoring peace and order.
While acknowledging that over 40 lawsuits were filed to challenge the declaration, Tinubu maintained that the step was constitutionally justified, stressing that “it would have been a colossal failure on my part as President not to have made that proclamation.”
The President expressed satisfaction with what he described as a “groundswell of a new spirit of understanding” among political stakeholders in Rivers, which, according to him, justifies ending the emergency at the expiration of its initial six months.
He 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.”
Tinubu used the occasion to urge governors and state assemblies across the country to prioritise harmony between the executive and legislative arms of government to ensure that Nigerians enjoy the dividends of democracy.
Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (retd.) has been serving as the Sole Administrator of Rivers State since Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the state.
The PUNCH