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In this report, LAOLU AFOLABI examines the events leading to the state of emergency imposed on Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu, the rationale behind the decision, and the history of similar emergency declarations in Nigeria since 1999
The political crisis in Rivers State has reached a boiling point, culminating in President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency. The long-standing power struggle between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, escalated into a full-blown conflict, paralysing governance and threatening the state’s stability.
What began as a tussle for political control soon spiralled into violent confrontations, defections, and legal battles, with both factions vying for dominance. The crisis deepened as the Rivers State House of Assembly, largely loyal to Wike, moved against Fubara, pushing for his removal. Allegations of executive overreach, financial mismanagement, and security threats fuelled tensions, leading to violent clashes and governance gridlock.
With the state’s economy – especially its vital oil production – at risk, Tinubu, on March 18, 2025, invoked emergency powers to restore order. The decision, though controversial, underscores the Federal Government’s concerns over the instability in the country’s strategic states.
Descent to chaos
Wike had unilaterally chosen Fubara as his successor and vigorously campaigned for him until his electoral victory on March 18, 2023. In the official results, Fubara, representing the Peoples Democratic Party, secured approximately 303,000 votes, defeating Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress, who garnered about 95,000 votes, and Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party, who received nearly 47,000 votes, among others.
Initially, the relationship between the two political gladiators was cordial, with Fubara retaining most of Wike’s former commissioners in his administration. The camaraderie continued as Wike was appointed Minister of the Federal Capital Territory by President Tinubu in August 2023. During the ministerial swearing-in, Fubara led a delegation of Rivers elders to Abuja to celebrate his predecessor. On each visit to Rivers thereafter, the elated governor was always on hand to welcome Wike at the airport.
Trouble began shortly thereafter and escalated into a full-blown crisis by Sunday, October 29, 2023, as the Majority Leader of the state House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, led arsonists to burn sections of the Rivers State House of Assembly complex around 10 pm, following fears that the Assembly was set to begin impeachment procedures against Fubara the next day.
On October 30, 2023, the House of Assembly removed Ehie as Majority Leader through votes by 26 out of 32 lawmakers and suspended him alongside four others for masterminding the burning of the House chambers the previous night.
The Assembly, on the same day, issued an impeachment notice against Governor Fubara. However, before the end of the plenary that day, security operatives sent by the governor invaded the complex again and shot sporadically with live bullets and tear gas. The Speaker, Martin Amaewhule and his fellow lawmakers hurriedly left the Assembly premises.
Fubara later came to the complex with his supporters and declared that the impeachment process initiated by the Assembly was null and void. The suspended Majority Leader, Ehie, was purportedly elected as factional Speaker to preside over a four-man Assembly, sidelining Amaewhule and the 26 others. Ehie and the three other members, during ‘plenary’ on October 30, suspended the 27 lawmakers, including Amaewhule.
Not done, Fubara, on the same day, issued Executive Order 001, dated October 30, 2023, directing that all proceedings and business of the Rivers State House of Assembly be conducted inside the Government House until the repairs, renovation, or reconstruction of the Assembly complex were completed.
Staying afloat, the 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike and led by Amaewhule purportedly defected to the APC on December 11, 2023, at a reception held in honour of Tony Okocha as the chairman of the state chapter of the APC.
On December 13, 2023, factional Speaker, Ehie, obtained a court order from a state High Court, allowing the four-member Assembly as authentic lawmakers and proceeded to declare the seats of Amaewhule and 26 others vacant for allegedly defecting to the APC.
Following the court order, Fubara, on December 13, 2023, presented the N800bn 2024 budget to the four-member faction led by Ehie and the budget was passed the same day, while Fubara signed it into law on December 14, 2023.
President Tinubu stepped in to broker peace on December 18, 2023, as he summoned all the gladiators to a peace parley in Abuja. The peace deal between the Wike camp and the Fubara camp was signed at the State House, Abuja.
Among the agreements reached was that Amaewhule remain the Speaker of the Assembly and that Fubara should re-present the 2024 budget to the Amaewhule-led assembly.
Following the peace parley, Fubara’s commissioners loyal to Wike were readmitted into the cabinet, after their initial resignation, citing harassment and harsh working conditions.
On December 29, 2023, Ehie wrote a resignation letter as a lawmaker and addressed it to the Independent National Electoral Commission. Fubara subsequently appointed him as his Chief of Staff. However, contrary to the peace agreement, Fubara refused to present the 2024 budget before the Amaewhule-led Assembly.
On May 9, 2024, Victor Oko-Jumbo emerged as factional Speaker, with the endorsement of Fubara. On May 10, 2024, Fubara gazetted the executive order he issued on October 30, 2023, moving sittings of the Assembly loyal to him to the Government House.
On May 10, 2024, Oko-Jumbo obtained an interlocutory injunction from a state High Court, restraining Amaewhule and 26 lawmakers from parading themselves as members of the Assembly. Amaewhule and his group appealed the order and the court of appeal ruled in their favour.
Amaewhule and his group took Fubara to court over the 2024 budget and on January 22, 2024, an Abuja Federal High Court ruled in their favour and ordered Fubara to represent the budget to the Amaewhule-led assembly. Fubara went on appeal and on October 10, 2024, the Appeal Court dismissed Fubara’s appeal.
On October 30, 2024, the Amaewhule-led Assembly secured a Federal High Court judgment restraining the Central Bank of Nigeria from further releasing the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee to the Rivers State government until Fubara presents the 2024 appropriation bill to Amaewhule-led Assembly.
While the legal battle persisted, Fubara went ahead with the local government election on October 5, 2024, despite a court order halting the process and the withdrawal of the Nigerian Police from the exercise. Additionally, INEC refused to release the voter register for the election.
The legal tussle continued to the Supreme Court. In its judgment on February 28, 2025, the apex court affirmed Amaewhule as the authentic Speaker of the Assembly and ruled that no seat was vacant, ordering all elected lawmakers to resume sitting, immediately.
The apex court also ordered the CBN and all banks housing funds belonging to Rivers State to withhold further release until a valid appropriation law that has passed through the Amaewhule-led assembly is in place.
It ultimately declared the local government election held on October 5, 2024, null and void, along with all actions taken by the three-man Assembly led by Oko-Jumbo.
The judgment created ripples across the state. In its first sitting after the judgment on Monday, March 3, 2025, the Amaewhule-led Assembly gave the governor a 48-hour ultimatum to present the 2025 budget.
The Assembly also asked the governor to send all his nominees for screening and summoned the Chairman of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, Justice Adolphus Enebeli (retd.) to appear before it.
The government, however, hesitated, insisting it would wait to obtain the Certified True Copy of the judgment before taking any action. Pro-Fubara supporters also opposed the ruling, with the Ijaw National Congress and Ijaw Youth Council threatening to disrupt oil production in the Delta creeks.
As the crisis lingers, the leaders of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, led by former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Victor Attah and the Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, alongside the National Chairman of the group, Amb Godknows Igali, intervened.
The group met with President Tinubu, who asked them to meet with Fubara and advised him to obey the judgment of the Supreme Court.
On March 12, 2025, Fubara was denied access to the official quarters of the state Assembly along Aba Road, Port Harcourt, where lawmakers loyal to Wike were holding their sittings. The Assembly maintained that there was no official correspondence permitting his entry, contrary to the government’s claim, as indicated in a letter addressed to the Speaker and signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Tammy Danagogo.
On Friday, the governor personally wrote another letter requesting an audience with the lawmakers to present the budget on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, or any other date convenient for them. However, on that same day, the lawmakers adjourned sitting indefinitely.
Trouble started on Monday, March 17, 2025, as the Amaewhule-led Assembly compiled 19 infractions of Fubara in a misconduct notice sent to the governor. The deputy governor, Prof Ngozi Odu, was also not spared.
By Tuesday morning, the media was awash with an explosion which rocked the Trans Niger Pipeline in the Bodo community, in the Gokana Local Government Area of the state. Later in the day, another incident involving a manifold connecting a federal line in the area far inside the forest, which transports crude oil to Brass in Bayelsa State, was reported.
Tinubu declares emergency
President Tinubu, in a broadcast aired by 7 pm on Tuesday, imposed an emergency rule on Rivers State. In the broadcast, the President said, “Fellow Nigerians, I feel greatly disturbed at the turn we have come to regarding the political crisis in Rivers State. Like many of you, I have watched with concern the development with the hope that the parties involved would allow good sense to prevail at the soonest, but all that hope burned out without any solution to the crisis.
“With the crisis persisting, there is no way democratic governance, which we have all fought and worked for over the years, can thrive in a way that will redound to the benefit of the good people of the state. The state has been at a standstill since the crisis started, with the good people of the state not being able to have access to the dividends of democracy.”
He listed the ‘many sins’ of Fubara to include the demolition of the state House of Assembly and, 14 months after, it was not rebuilt; the collapse of the legislature; tactical support for militants threatening to blow pipelines, among others.
He spoke of his interventions between the contending parties for a peaceful resolution of the crisis but regretted that his efforts had been largely ignored by the parties to the crisis.
“I am also aware that many well-meaning Nigerians, leaders of thought and patriotic groups have also intervened at various times with the best of intentions to resolve the matter, but all their efforts were also to no avail. Still, I thank them,” he said.
“The latest security reports made available to me show that between yesterday and today, there have been disturbing incidents of vandalisation of pipelines by some militants without the governor taking any action to curtail them.
“I have, of course, given stern orders to the security agencies to ensure the safety of lives of the good people of Rivers State and the oil pipelines.
“With all these and many more, no good and responsible President will stand by and allow the grave situation to continue without taking remedial steps prescribed by the Constitution to address the situation in the state, which no doubt requires extraordinary measures to restore good governance, peace, order and security.
“In the circumstance, having soberly reflected on and evaluated the political situation in Rivers State and the Governor and Deputy Governor of Rivers State, having failed to make a request to me as President, to issue this proclamation as required by Section 305(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it has become inevitably compelling for me to invoke the provision of Section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State with effect from today, 18th March 2025 and I so do.
“By this declaration, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu and all elected members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State are hereby suspended for an initial period of six months.”
The President nominated the former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas (retd) as Administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state.
“This declaration has been published in the Federal Gazette, a copy of which has been forwarded to the National Assembly in accordance with the Constitution.
“It is my fervent hope that this inevitable intervention will help to restore peace and order in Rivers State by awakening all the contenders to the constitutional imperatives binding on all political players in Rivers State in particular and Nigeria as a whole,” the President said.
Section 305 unveiled
The President shall have power to issue a proclamation of a state of emergency only when (a) the Federation is at war; (b) the Federation is in imminent danger of invasion or involvement in a state of war; (c) there is actual breakdown of public order and public safety in the federation or any part thereof to such extent as to require extraordinary measures to restore peace and security; and (d) there is a clear and present danger of an actual breakdown of public order and public safety in the Federation or any part thereof requiring extraordinary measures to avert such danger.
It added, “(e) There is an occurrence or imminent danger, or the occurrence of any disaster or natural calamity, affecting the community or a section of the community in the Federation; (f) there is any other public danger which clearly constitutes a threat to the existence of the federation; or (g) the President receives a request to do so in accordance with the provisions of subsection (4) of this section.
Emergency rule history
The declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State marks the third time since 1999 that a sitting President has made such a proclamation. It first happened in 2004 in Plateau State, in 2006 in Ekiti State and now in 2025 in Rivers State.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on May 18, 2004, declared a state of emergency in Plateau State and put Maj Gen Chris Alli (retd) in charge, following communal violence that claimed hundreds of lives.
The violence in Plateau State started on May 2, 2024, when a Christian militia group attacked and killed hundreds of Muslims in the town of Yelwa. Muslims retaliated, leading to the killing of many Christians.
Announcing the emergency rule, Obasanjo said, “Fellow Nigerians, it is with a grave heart that I address you all today. We have all made personal and collective sacrifices not just to enthrone peace, stability and democracy in Nigeria, but also to consolidate our democratic enterprise and cultivate new values. It is, therefore, very painful when that new collective commitment to democracy, peace and security is compromised, contaminated or mediated in any way or form.”
He chided the governor at the time, Joshua Dariye, saying, “As of today, there is nothing on the ground and no evidence whatsoever to show that the state governor has the interest, desire, commitment, credibility and capacity to promote reconciliation, rehabilitation, forgiveness, peace, harmony and stability.
“If anything, some of his utterances, his lackadaisical attitude and seeming uneven-handedness over the salient and contending issues present him as not just part of the problem, but also as an instigator and a threat to peace. Plateau State cannot and must not experience another spate of violence, killings and destruction of property. If allowed, the crisis will engulf the entire nation.”
The second time of the emergency rule was on October 19, 2006. Former President Obasanjo, again, in exercise of his constitutional authority, appointed Brig Gen Tunji Olurin (retd), as sole administrator for Ekiti State.
On Tuesday, September 26, 2006, the 26-man Ekiti State House of Assembly passed a motion to serve a notice of impeachment on the then-Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose and his deputy, Mrs Abiodun Olujimi, alleging gross misconduct against them.
The proceedings were to be within the parameters set out in Section 188 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. In all, there were five charges against Fayose and two against Olujimi with 24 out of 26 of the assembly members in support of the motion.
The notice was delivered by express mail to the accused duo on Friday, September 29 (giving them 14 days to respond), although the governor indicated that he did not receive his copy until Tuesday, October 3. On that same day, Fayose filed an ex parte motion in an Ado-Ekiti court to stop the impeachment process.
The Chief Judge at the time, Justice Kayode Bamisile, was instructed to form a seven-man panel to conduct the formal impeachment investigation. Not satisfied with the disposition of the CJ, the assembly suspended him and appointed Jide Aladejana as acting Chief Judge. On October 16, at exactly 9:17 am after receiving the Aladejana panel report and calling for a vote, the Speaker, Friday Aderemi, formalised the impeachment of Fayose and Olujimi. The speaker was sworn in as governor. By evening, the state had three people, Fayose, Olujinmi and Aderemi, laying claim to governorship.
Former President Obasanjo, on Thursday, October 19, 2006, imposed an emergency rule on Ekiti and appointed Brig Gen Olurin as administrator.
In a special broadcast on state radio and television, Obasanjo said he took the measure because the situation “clearly presents the danger of possible breakdown of public order and public safety.”
Other declarations of emergency rule were, however, without the suspension of democratic institutions in the affected states.
On May 15, 2013, former President Goodluck Jonathan, declared a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe because of the activities of Boko Haram extremists but did not suspend democratic structures.
Ibas, new Rivers administrator
Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, born September 27, 1960, is a retired Nigerian Navy Vice Admiral and the 22nd Chief of the Naval Staff of the Nigerian Navy from 2015 to 2021.
Born in Nko, Cross River State, he enlisted into the Nigerian Defence Academy as a member of 26 Regular Course on June 20, 1979, and was commissioned Sub-Lieutenant on January 1, 1983. He began his primary education at Nko Primary School, Nko, in 1966 and completed it at Big Qua Primary School, Calabar in 1971. He then proceeded to the prestigious Hope Waddell Training Institute Calabar from 1972 to 1976. Between 1977 and 1979, he attended the School of Basic Studies, Ogoja, before proceeding to the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1979.
Ibas attended several military courses at home and abroad, including the Sub-Lieutenant Technical Course at INS Venduruthy in India from April 1983 to May 1984 and Primary Pilot Training at the 301 Primary Flying Training School at Nigerian Airforce Base in Kaduna from April 1986 to October 1987.
He proceeded to the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna, in January 1990 and completed the Junior Staff Course in June of the same year.
In July 1992, he reported at the Amphibious Warfare School of the United States Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia, United States, and graduated with a diploma in amphibious warfare in May 1993.
In February 1994, Ibas commenced the Officers’ Long Course specialising in underwater warfare at the Underwater Warfare School, NNS Quorra and completed the same in February 1995.
From August 1996 to July 1997, he returned to the prestigious Armed Forces Command and Staff College Jaji, where he completed the Senior Staff Course with excellent grades.
He is also an alumnus of the National Defence College, Islamabad, Pakistan, having attended the National Defence Course from August 2005 to June 2006.
In addition, he holds a master’s degree in defence and strategic studies from Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, Pakistan.
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