President Bola Tinubu has announced the official suspension of emergency rule in Rivers State, which commenced six months ago on March 18, 2025. This development was made known in a statement signed by President Tinubu.
The statement reads as follows: “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 governor, Siminalayi Fubara; the deputy governor, 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.
“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.
“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 17, 2025.”
The president said he was aware of criticism regarding his proclamation.
He said, “That is the way it should be in a democratic setting. 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. 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 unrealizable in an atmosphere of violence, anarchy, and insecurity borne by misguided political activism and Machiavellian manipulations among the stakeholders.”
The President commended the National Assembly for approving the declaration for the sake of peace and order in Rivers State; he also appreciated all stakeholders in Rivers State for their support and patience.