What Does State Of Emergency Mean For Rivers State?

On the evening of Tuesday, March 18, 2025, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State during a nationwide broadcast, citing an ongoing political crisis, violations of the constitution, and escalating insecurity.

In his announcement, Tinubu ordered the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for an initial period of six months.

To oversee the administration of the state, the President appointed Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd) as Administrator, effective immediately. Tinubu emphasized that the move was crucial to restoring peace, order, and governance in Rivers, which had been grappling with political instability for several months.

He also noted that all attempts at mediation, including his own involvement and those of other concerned Nigerians, had been unsuccessful in resolving the crisis.

What Is State Of Emergency?

The president relied on Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution to make the proclamation. The section interprets a state of emergency as a situation of national danger, disaster or terrorist attacks in which a government suspends normal constitutional procedures to regain control.

There has been several arguments as regards this state of emergency declared by the President especially using the Section 305 of the 1999 constitution and the suspension of Fubara, the Rivers state governor.

LN247 had a conversation on the morning show with Mr Zoe Tamunotonye, a political analyst from Rivers state, where he gave his thoughts regarding this issue;

“it is one thing to give an order from the law is another thing, the will of the people, rivers people have continued to hear respective of whatever judgment that comes from whatever courts, rivers people have continued to rally around behind the governor. So it’s after the frustration of the minister and the president not getting what they wanted from the script they have given the governor”

“Now take a look at the irony. The governor is an elected person just like the president and the kind of federal system we are running each of them has their constitutional powers and different jurisdiction. The president has powers over his appointed ministers. Now he has a problem in his hand between a minister he appointed in his cabinet and an elected governor who is governing a people”, He added.

He rather choose to punish or suspend the governor rather than dismissing the minister that is totally under his control”.

Lawyers Perspective

Concerning the constitutional bargain of an elected president to suspend an elected governor, Lawyer Justice Ojienoh on the morning show with LN247 gave his take on the matter;

“The Constitution provides for peace of the armed good government of the state. So when the governor fails or the government fails in one part of the state to ensure that that happens, then the president may want to exercise his powers on to section 305, as he did, to be able to restore normalcy. But the mood and manner in which the president went about restoring this version of normalcy is what I take as strong grounds against. And I say this because there are a number of states of emergencies that have been declared, especially in this fourth republic from 1999”

“I feel that it’s wrong. And the reason why I feel that that was wrong was because the people were elected, the governor was elected by the people of those states. And under no condition, there is no provision in the constitution and that’s to the extent which I think is unconstitutional.”

“There is no provision in the constitution where one elected person, also known as the president, will remove another elected person from office without the constitution endorsing it”.

Lawyer Nathaniel Ojobo also had a lot to say regarding this issue;

“there has to be a clear situation of at least threat to public peace. If not that public peace is actually threatened, or rather public peace has been breached, let there be such a situation as to allow for a clear threat to public peace. And if that has not been ascertained, we then have the power to declare that there is a clear threat to public peace in river state. And like I said, why it is neither here nor there. Personally, my sentiments are that we do not yet have a situation where public peace has been breached or there is a threat to the breach of public peace in river state.”

“the Constitution 305 sub 3 paragraph, uses the word clear. It has to be clear such that any reasonable person can do that. Is the whole of river state in turmoil? I mean, I hear comments about pipelines going off in certain locations.

the president was just been proactive because we know when we begin to see vandalism then it cannot be termed as a threat to public,

We had two pipeline explosions in River State a few days ago. Now, the president is relying on that. While I may not want to start making permutations, that may not be backed up with facts.

How and when or when did these explosions happen? When did they happen? We had the explosions. Of course, we have known that over time, generally, the South South has been a home for such things. But in the recent past, have there been any such explosions? Why is this one now happening at this time? He concluded.

Will The State Of Emergency Achieve Its Purpose?

The state of emergency and the appointment of a military administrator, Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd) are intended to address the immediate crises in Rivers State, their success will hinge on his ability to manage security, political, and legal challenges effectively.

“you cannot place something on nothing and expect it to stand. For me, the issue is not even discussing about what could be the position or what are the benefits of having an administrative officer. Because no matter how well intended, let’s even assume there was a good intention behind order because we all know the politics involved in all of this. But let’s even assume for a moment that there was a good intention behind this declaration of state of emergency in reverse states, behind the proposed suspension of the governor and the House of Representatives, you cannot find the right results after it was wrongly done”, Lawyer Nathaniel stated.