₦airaland Forum

STATE HOUSE STATEMENT

STATEMENT BY HIS EXCELLENCY, BOLA AHMED TINUBU, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, ON THE CESSATION OF THE STATE OF EMERGENCY IN RIVERS STATE
 
My Fellow countrymen and, in particular, the good people of Rivers State.
 
I am happy to address you today on the state of emergency declaration in Rivers State. You will recall that on 18th March, 2025, I proclaimed a state of emergency in the state. In my proclamation address, I highlighted the reasons for the declaration. The summary of it for context is that there was a total paralysis of governance in Rivers State, which had led to the Governor of Rivers State and the House of Assembly being unable to work together. Critical economic assets of the State, including oil pipelines, were being vandalised. The State House of Assembly was crisis-ridden, such that members of the House were divided into two groups. Four members worked with the Governor, while 27 members opposed the Governor. The latter group supported the Speaker. As a result, the Governor could not present any Appropriation Bill to the House, to enable him to access funds to run Rivers State's affairs. That serious constitutional impasse brought governance in the State to a standstill. Even the Supreme Court, in one of its judgments in a series of cases filed by the Executive and the Legislative arms of Rivers State against each other, held that there was no government in Rivers State. My intervention and that of other well-meaning Nigerians to resolve the conflict proved abortive as both sides stuck rigidly to their positions to the detriment of peace and development of the State.
 
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. The Offices of the Governor, Deputy Governor, and elected members of the State House of Assembly were suspended for six months in the first instance. The six months expire today, September 17th, 2025.
 
I thank the National Assembly, which, after critically evaluating the justification for the proclamation, took steps immediately, as required by the Constitution, to approve the declaration in the interest of peace and order in Rivers State. I  also thank our traditional rulers and the good people of Rivers State for their support from the date of the declaration of the state of emergency until now.
 
I am not unaware that there were a few voices of dissent against the proclamation, which led to their instituting over 40 cases in the courts in Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Yenagoa, to invalidate the declaration. That is the way it should be in a democratic setting. Some cases are still pending in the courts as of today. But what needs to be said is that the power to declare a state of emergency is an inbuilt constitutional tool to address situations of actual or threatened breakdown of public order and public safety, which require extraordinary measures to return the State to peace, order and security. Considered objectively, we had reached that situation of total breakdown of public order and public safety in Rivers State, as shown in the judgment of the Supreme Court on the disputes between the Executive and the Legislative arm of Rivers State. It would have been a colossal failure on my part as President not to have made that proclamation.
 
As a stakeholder in democratic governance, I believe that the need for a harmonious existence and relationship between the executive and the legislature is key to a successful government, whether at the state or national level. The people who voted us into power expect to reap the fruits of democracy. However, that expectation will remain unrealizable in an atmosphere of violence, anarchy, and insecurity borne by misguided political activism and Machiavellian manipulations among the stakeholders.

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. 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.
 
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.
 
I take this opportunity to remind the Governors and the Houses of Assembly of all the States of our country to continue 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. I implore all of you to let this realisation drive your actions at all times.
 
I thank you all.
 
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
 
Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR
President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
Federal Republic of Nigeria
State House, Abuja
September 17, 2025

Source: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15zrmdjxzX/

Great

Tinubu saved the state from anarchy and Fubara from impeachment.

Fubara better use your head before dem use am for you.

Welcome back my governor, no be small shege we use our eyes see for Ibas hand for this 6 months weh u no deh o

There's no whitewashing this. The state of emergency was a disgrace and should never have happened. He should now declare a state of emergency on insecurity across the entire country without further delay.

Puppet Governor Fubara is back in office! Interesting days ahead

Dear Fubara,

Hear me.
Let Ibas continue until 2027

The disrespect is too much
Fubara's return cleans the unconstitutional crime that occurred in Rivers

Let that seat remain vacant until 2027 to make the robbery very glaring

It's not like you will be in power anyway
You will be an executive puppet so what's the point?


Remain incommunicado
What can they do?
Send soldiers to bundle you to government house by force? Lol


Maintain silence on the matter until 2027 and run again on any platform vs anybody they bring. Your re-election will be 100% and no godfather this time.

Good day.

Fubara has his eyes opened now. He wouldn't be deceived by Ehie, Chijioke, David Briggs, Danagogo and a few others.

Surely there is an end to everything.

Even Tinubu's regime will end very soon.

My prayers for the state is that it remains totally peaceful and co-operative for the state to prosper.

richmond500:
Welcome back my governor, no be small shege we see for Ibas hand for this
6months

The state was peaceful at least, the only thing be say e no show us love 😍

we have govermnent publicly negotiating with bandits in the north, but Rivers state is under state of emergency

I just love to see Fubara back to his seat as governor. Suspending an elected governor by another elected president is just something I don't understand, but in all, good to have them back

I haven't seen a weaker governor than Sim. How would he even wield power when he is back? Politics is not for him, after this tenure he should face other affairs.

Hyjacked a state with a fake State of Emergency.., imposed your kwarupt lackeys at every state agencies and local governments headquarters..., made sure the governor is answerable to an overbearing Wike..., imposed pro Wike legislators in the HoA.., and to put icing on the cake; forced the governor to agree to never contest for a second term..

These are the "gains" of Tinubus declaration of a SoE in Rivers state. A brazen display of power intoxication. A flagrant breach of the constitution that was made, not just to support an avalanche of illegalities, but to also entrench the horrible foundations of kleptomania as is the case in Lagos and other states across the federation that dance to diabolical whims and caprices of a totally kwarupt presidency..

Nothing hallmarks the ruthless and kwarupt utilisation of federal forces to entrench ev-il like the bustardisation of the peoples mandate in Rivers state by Tinubu and his APC minions..
History will always remember them for this infamy!

Shame unto you, while not extend it to 2027 which was the main reason you declared SOE in peaceful rivers state. E go reach every state this is just the beginning

i really couldn't care less any way

and naiarkndjddkdkd

Fubara, go and sin no more and do not allow the usual suspects to mislead you again into taking any untoward decisions that will always come back to haunt you.

You are not a woman. Don’t be emotional and always use your head.

You enter into any agreement then it is binding on you whether the agreement is from God or Satan, it matters not.

AMINDA:
There's no whitewashing this. The state of emergency was a disgrace and should never have happened. He should now declare a state of emergency on insecurity across the entire country without further delay.

I will advice you wait for your turn so you can do things differently. As far as Nigerians are concerned he did the right thing.

Bandits are doing promo in Kwara state, no state of emergency. Benue has the largest IDP in Nigeria, no state of emergency.

Beef between Fubara and Wike is what Tinubu used as an excuse for state of emergency in Rivers state. They used it to test their rigging plans as seen in Rivers LG elections where over 2 million fake votes were recorded.

Sadly, democracy lost the battle.



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Good, by doing this, I believe other states actors will reconsider before acting in their own interests alone

Even if wike gives you 2 million votes from phc, you are still OTP

WickedAfonja:
Dear Fubara,

Hear me.
Let Ibas continue until 2027

The disrespect is too much
Fubara's return cleans the unconstitutional crime that occurred in Rivers

Let that seat remain vacant until 2027 to make the robbery very glaring

It's not like you will be in power anyway
You will be an executive puppet so what's the point?


Remain incommunicado
What can they do?
Send soldiers to bundle you to government house by force? Lol


Maintain silence on the matter until 2027 and run again on any platform vs anybody they bring. Your re-election will be 100% and no godfather this time.

Good day.

Even if the daylight robbery goes into sky displayed robbery what will happen after ...

Seems people easily forget the past/history... Ekiti gate what happened aftermath didnt we All just move On
No be this same country dem declare person wey come 4th governor of a state .... what as happened

Rubbish

Nonsensical and ingredients
SIM card don finally get network(Wike)

What of kwara, katsina, borno, zamfara, benue, they all need state of emergency, but like u dey fear to pronounce it,

And this is democracy? How can we label this autocratic moves as democratic?

Now Fubara go calm down share the money with Wike and Tinubu.

And guess who is worse for it?…. Rivers people[url][/url]

All I can say is that the president is bias, simple!
While the President framed the crisis as a “constitutional impasse” between the Governor and a divided Assembly, his statement carefully avoided addressing the real political forces that engineered the paralysis. The fact remains that the Rivers Assembly faction, backed by powerful interests outside the state, deliberately undermined the Governor’s administration—yet Tinubu reduced the matter to a neutral standoff between equal parties.

This narrative not only shields the chief instigators (Wike) but also shifts blame equally between the Governor and legislators, ignoring the asymmetry of power at play. Tinubu’s focus on defending his constitutional right to declare emergency rule further reveals a self-serving bias, prioritizing the legitimacy of his intervention over confronting the political sabotage that created the crisis in the first place.

In short, while peace may have been restored on paper, the President’s silence on the role of external political actors signals a troubling bias: protecting allies, while presenting himself as a neutral stabilizer.

Make fubara go do thanksgiving... They jst showed him power