President Bola Tinubu has announced the end of the six-month state of emergency in Rivers State, saying 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.
In a statement released by the Presidency on Wednesday, Tinubu said the emergency, first declared on March 18, 2025, was necessary to stop what he described as a “total paralysis of governance” in the 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,” Tinubu said.
The President recalled that a conflict between the governor and 27 lawmakers loyal to the Speaker had left Rivers State without a functioning government. The Supreme Court even ruled at one point that “there was no government in Rivers State.”
Tinubu explained that the intervention, which suspended the governor, deputy governor, and the Assembly, was taken under Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution and approved by the National Assembly.
“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,” he said.
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The President acknowledged that more than 40 lawsuits were filed to challenge his decision but insisted the action was constitutional.
“It would have been a colossal failure on my part as President not to have made that proclamation,” he said.
Tinubu said he was now satisfied that peace had returned to the state.
“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,” he said.
He urged governors and state assemblies across Nigeria to work in harmony to ensure stability and the smooth delivery of democracy’s benefits to the people.
Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (retd.) has been running Rivers State as Sole Administrator since the emergency began in March.