Editorial: Rivers Emergency Rule: How Far?

Next Thursday, September 18th, 2025 will mark the end of the “initial period of six months” of the Emergency Rule declared by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Rivers State. Except the two chambers of the National Assembly activate the power conferred on them in the proviso to Section 305, subsection 6 (c) of the 1999 constitution as amended, suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly will resume their duties in the respective offices to which the electorate elected them.

By the provision of Section 305 (6) (c) of the constitution, the six-month state of emergency will automatically end except the National Assembly extends it. Fubara and the legislature need no order or directive from the President to resume if the federal legislature does not take any action that indicates the contrary.

On March 18, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared emergency rule in Rivers State and ordered the suspension of the elected governor, Siminalayi Fubara and the state legislators in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by Section 305 subsection 5 of the 1999 constitution as amended. Tinubu also directed a retired naval officer, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd) to act as sole administrator for the period of the emergency.

The jury is still out on whether the provision of the constitution so relied upon by the President empowered him to sack a democratically elected governor and make any part of the country come under the rule of an ‘unelected governor’. Several provisions of the Constitution and judicial provisions contradicted such an occurrence. Sections 1 (2), 4 (6) and (7), 5 (2) (a), 178 (1), and 188 (1 – 11). The position of PENPUSHING Media is that while there is no judicial decision yet on this issue, nothing in section 305 can be construed to give such a power to the President.

However, five different lawsuits filed to challenge the action of the President and seek a true interpretation of the meaning of Section 305 subsections 5 and 6, including the one filed by Fubara’s colleague-Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have not proceeded to the determination stage.

What this means is that there is still no final word on the issue of whether a President can sack a democratically elected governor and state House of Assembly or whether a declaration of state of emergency in any administrative unit in Nigeria can necessarily lead to the suspension or removal of the elected authority in charge of the area.

With the question of whether Tinubu was right in his March 18, 2025 proclamation still lingering and unanswered, the nation eagerly awaits what happens on September 18 onwards. There have also been reports that Tinubu has brokered a peace deal between the protagonists in the Rivers imbroglio – Fubara and his estranged godfather, Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

The deal which was said to have stripped the suspended governor of all the levers of political influence and authority while restoring Wike’s supremacy as political leader of Rivers State has apparently ensured that there would be no need for further tension in the South-south state.

If the terms of the peace deal as reported by the media were true, nothing should inhibit the return to office of Siminalayi Fubara on September 18.

The suspended governor, according to the reported terms of the peace deal, will return to office and not only sin no more against Wike, but he will also just complete his term of office in 2027 and seek no second term. He is also expected to defect to the APC and abandon the PDP on whose platform he was elected in 2023. An indication of this latter demand is the fact that when the sole administrator, Ibas conducted the LGA polls last month, APC which was a minority in the state before the emergency rule won 20 out of the 23 chairmanship seats.

The implication of the results of the LGA polls is that Rivers State may now be seen as an APC state. After all, the party to which an incumbent state governor belongs usually clears all or wins an overwhelming majority of the LGA seats. That was why the question was raised whether Ibas is an APC ‘Governor’ who delivered the LGA seats to his party.

Apart from the LGA polls which the sole administrator conducted in a controversial circumstance, Ibas also took many other decisions that may put the elected governor in a bind when he returns. First, Fubara will have to continue the implementation of the N1.481 trillion 2025 appropriation which Ibok got the House of Representatives to approve for the state government. Second, the sole administrator has also appointed new people to all agencies, departments, parastatals, and other statutory bodies. Third, Ibak has awarded contracts for several projects running into hundreds of billions of naira. An example is the State House of Assembly complex which he has completed.

The submission of PENPUSHING Media here is that Tinubu should ensure nothing inhibits the resumption of Fubara and the elected legislators come September 18, as provided by Section 305 (6) (c) of the constitution. This, we believe, is what constitutionalism is all about. It is also the wish of the people of the state. Also, Fubara who is an accountant should not delay in carrying out a comprehensive audit of the state treasury to be sure the sole administrator did not play smart with the funds when he held fort. The elected governor should seize the opportunity of the possibility that he may not seek re-election to devote all his time to serving the people and making genuine improvements in their standard of living.

He should remember that he is racing against time. He has only 20 months to leave office if he does not seek re-election. That is enough time to stamp his feet in the sands of time. It is enough to execute beneficial and lasting projects that will uplift the state and its people. It is enough time to initiate programmes and measures for which his tenure would be remembered. Now, his return presents him with another opportunity to evade the consequences of his tenure being defined by the partisan battle for control with Wike and the consequent emergency rule declaration.

The current situation has now permitted him to also take tough decisions and demonstrate courage in a manner that will truly serve the interests of the people. He should seek to put in place procedures, policies, programmes, and projects that will enable him to entrench accountability, transparency, and good governance. History and fate have presented him a lemon. He must make lemonade out of it. He must turn adversity to fortune for his people.

However, while doing all the above, he should avoid igniting another needless crisis with Wike and his cohorts. He needs to learn to manage them to ensure good governance for his people. If he comes out of this situation on May 29, 2027, as a credible crisis manager and a governor who has diligently served his people by bequeathing great legacies to them, he may soon have better opportunities to serve at higher levels.

Also, Nigeria must not miss the chance of using this Fubara case to settle the issue of the lacuna and ambiguity in the provision of sections 305 (5) and (6) of the constitution. The matter must be settled once and for all as to the elasticity and limit of what a President can do or not do in the exercise of the powers to declare emergency rule.

We must not miss the opportunity as we did on the issue of settling the issues arising from the case of legislators who defected from the political party on whose platform they were elected. The PDP legislators in Rivers State smartly beat a retreat when they saw that the Governor was about to decapitate them and their godfather based on that defection. The issue of defecting legislators and whether they can retain their seats remains unresolved.

In conclusion, it is our opinion in PENPUSHING Media that the constitution will be slacking in its role as our grund norm, if some of its contentious provisions are not tested in courts and resolved. The courts are meant to shine light in the dark alleys of the Constitution. That is why as Prof. Akin Oyebode, the UNILAG constitutional law teacher, usually says: ‘we must shake the tree and wait to see how many fruits will drop’. Our democracy can only turn out stronger and become anchored on constitutionalism if we get the courts to impartially arbitrate on contentious issues arising from the application of the laws.

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