President Bola Tinubu has announced the end of the six-month state of emergency in Rivers State, clearing the way for Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Nma Odu, and members of the State House of Assembly to return to office on Thursday, September 18, 2025.
The declaration, first made on March 18, 2025, suspended the offices of the governor, deputy governor, and lawmakers after a political crisis paralysed governance in the state.
In a statement released Wednesday by the Presidency, Tinubu said the move had been necessary to prevent Rivers from sliding into chaos.
“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.
He recalled that the bitter clash between the governor and 27 lawmakers loyal to the Speaker left the state without a functioning government. According to him, even the Supreme Court ruled at one point that “there was no government in Rivers State.”
Tinubu defended his earlier decision, noting, “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.”
Although more than 40 lawsuits were filed to challenge his action, the President insisted it was the right step. “It would have been a colossal failure on my part as President not to have made that proclamation,” he said.
The President explained that the intervention, which had the support of the National Assembly, brought stability. Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (retd.) was appointed Sole Administrator during the emergency period.
Tinubu now believes the state is ready for normal governance again. “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 lawmakers across Nigeria to avoid similar crises by working together. “This is undoubtedly a welcome development for me and a remarkable achievement for us. 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,” he added.
