President Bola Tinubu has announced the end of the six-month state of emergency imposed on Rivers State, declaring that Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Nma Odu, and members of the State House of Assembly will return to office from Thursday, September 18, 2025.
Tinubu in a statement released on Wednesday by the Presidency, said the state of emergency, first proclaimed on March 18, 2025, was necessary to arrest the “total paralysis of governance” that had gripped Rivers at the time.
He recalled that a bitter conflict between the governor and 27 lawmakers loyal to the House Speaker had left the state without a functioning government, with the Supreme Court even affirming in one of its rulings that “there was no government in Rivers State.”
“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,” he said.
