President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced the cessation of the six-month state of emergency in Rivers State, effective from midnight, September 17, 2025.
The President, in a national broadcast on Tuesday, said the measure, invoked under Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, became necessary in March after a “total paralysis of governance” in the state, following deep divisions between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the State House of Assembly.
“You will recall that on 18th March, 2025, I proclaimed a state of emergency in Rivers State,” Tinubu stated. “The Governor and the House of Assembly could not work together, critical economic assets such as oil pipelines were being vandalised, and the state legislature was split into two factions. Even the Supreme Court, in one of its judgments, held that there was no government in Rivers State.”
The President explained that his intervention became “painfully inevitable” after attempts by him and other leaders to mediate failed. “It would have been a colossal failure on my part as President not to have made that proclamation,” he said.
The emergency rule, which suspended the offices of the governor, deputy governor, and members of the House of Assembly, received immediate approval from the National Assembly. Tinubu commended lawmakers, traditional rulers, and citizens of Rivers for their support during the period.
He, however, acknowledged the dissenting voices who challenged the proclamation in court. “That is the way it should be in a democratic setting,” he noted, adding that the power to declare a state of emergency is a constitutional tool for restoring peace and security.
With intelligence reports indicating a renewed spirit of cooperation among Rivers’ political stakeholders, the President said it was time to restore democratic governance. “I am happy today that there is a groundswell of new understanding and robust readiness on the part of all stakeholders for an immediate return to democratic governance. I therefore do not see why the state of emergency should exist a day longer than the six months I had pronounced,” he declared.
Tinubu announced that Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Nma Odu, Speaker Martins Amaewhule, and other members of the Rivers State House of Assembly would resume their offices from September 18, 2025.
He further urged political leaders nationwide to learn from the Rivers crisis: “The people who voted us into power expect to reap the fruits of democracy. That expectation will remain unrealizable in an atmosphere of violence, anarchy, and insecurity borne by misguided political activism and manipulations among stakeholders.”
The President concluded with a call for peace and unity: “It is only in an atmosphere of peace, order, and good government that we can deliver the dividends of democracy to our people. Let this realisation drive your actions at all times.”
