A combined photo of President Bola Tinubu and Siminalayi Fubara
By Victory Oghene
President Bola Tinubu has announced the end of the six-month state of emergency in Rivers State, declaring that suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Nma Odu, and members of the State House of Assembly will return to office on Thursday, September 18, 2025.
Tinubu announced this via a statement issued by the Presidency on Wednesday, September 17.
The president, on Wednesday, said after several failed moves to end the political crisis in Rivers State, “it would have been a colossal failure on my part as president not to have made that proclamation” – referring to the emergency rule.
He stated that from the intelligence available to him, “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.”
Tinubu added: “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.”
The president, therefore, urged governors and the Houses of Assembly across the 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,” he noted.
