President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday announced the end of the six-month state of emergency in Rivers State, restoring full democratic governance from midnight. In a statement issued from the State House, Tinubu said the conditions that necessitated the emergency had abated and that elected officials, including Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Nma Odu, and members of the State House of Assembly led by Speaker Martins Amaewhule, would resume their duties on September 18.
Tinubu declared the emergency on March 18 under Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, citing what he described as a “total paralysis of governance” in Rivers. At the time, the governor and the House of Assembly were locked in a bitter standoff. Only four lawmakers were aligned with the governor while 27 supported the speaker, leaving the executive unable to present or pass an appropriation bill to run the state. Critical oil pipelines were also being vandalised. The Supreme Court, in one of several judgments arising from the dispute between the executive and legislature, held that there was effectively no government in Rivers State.
Repeated interventions by Tinubu and other prominent Nigerians failed to resolve the impasse, prompting the president to suspend the governor, deputy governor and elected legislators for an initial six-month period while appointing an administrator to run the state. The National Assembly promptly approved the proclamation.
In his statement ending the emergency, Tinubu said intelligence reports indicated “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.” He added, “I 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.”
The president acknowledged that the declaration drew criticism, with over 40 lawsuits filed in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Yenagoa seeking to overturn it, but described such challenges as part of democratic practice. He said the constitutional power to declare a state of emergency was an “inbuilt tool” to address an actual or threatened breakdown of public order and safety.
Rivers State, one of Nigeria’s main oil-producing areas, has been a flashpoint of political tension and pipeline vandalism for years. Observers say the crisis that led to the emergency raised questions about the ability of the state’s political class to cooperate and deliver basic governance. Tinubu ended his statement by urging governors and state legislatures across the country 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.”
