President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday lifted the six-month State of Emergency he declared in Rivers State and directed the suspended governor, Sim Fubara, his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Nma Odu, and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to resume on Thursday, September 18.
The President, in a statement, said his decision to lift the state of emergency was predicated on the fact that peace has returned to the state.
He explained that as of March 18, when he declared the state of emergency in the state, there was a total collapse of governance and the fragmentation of the state House of Assembly.
He said that his intervention, along with that of other well-meaning Nigerians, to resolve the conflict proved abortive, as both sides remained rigidly entrenched in their positions, to the detriment of peace and the development of the state.
President Tinubu, however, stated that, based on the intelligence available to him, there is a groundswell of a new spirit of understanding, a robust readiness, and potent enthusiasm among all stakeholders in Rivers State for an immediate return to democratic governance.
Consequently, he said he did not see why the state of emergency should exist a day longer than the six months he 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 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.
“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,” he said.
The President’s statement partly read: “My Fellow countrymen and, in particular, the good people of Rivers State.
“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, thereby preventing him from accessing 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, along with that of other well-meaning Nigerians, to resolve the conflict proved abortive, as both sides remained rigidly entrenched in their positions, to the detriment of peace and the state’s development.
“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.”
