IN a major development marking the end of a turbulent six-month period, President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday suspended the state of emergency in Rivers State, paving the way for the return of suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara and other elected officials.
The announcement, effective from midnight on September 17, 2025, directs Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Nma Odu, and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to resume their duties on Thursday, September 18.
The decision comes just hours after the expiration of the emergency rule, which Tinubu had declared on March 18, 2025, amid a severe political crisis and security threats in the oil-rich Niger Delta state.
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.
He recalled that a bitter 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 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.