The Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu Tuesday suspended Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara alongside his Deputy Ngozi Oduand and all elected lawmakers of the House of Assembly for an initial period of six months.
Penpushing reports that Tinubu issued the declaration in a national broadcast Tuesday night and also declared a state of emergency in the state, and equally appointed, a retired Vice Admiral, Ibokette Ibas as administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state in the interest of the people of the state.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this declaration does not affect the judicial arm of Rivers State, which shall continue to function in accordance with their constitutional mandate,” the president said.
Penpushing further reports that the President cited as the basis for his action the disturbing violence in the state in the last 24 hours, including explosions and vandalisation of petroleum pipelines linked to the political crises in the state.
The suspension comes a day after the 26 lawmakers in the state, served a notice of gross misconduct on Governor Siminalayi Fubara, kickstarting the process of removing him from office.
Penpushing also reports that Tinubu blamed the violence on the political actors in the state, and singled out Governor Fubara for criticism for his failure to take steps to address the situation, and equally blamed the violence on the political actors in the state.
The President singled out Fubara for criticism for his failure to take steps to address the situation and echoed aspects of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions, accusing the governor of frantically working to collapse the state’s legislature.
“In the circumstance, having soberly reflected on and evaluated the political situation in Rivers State and the Governor and Deputy Governor of Rivers State having failed to make a request to me as President to issue this proclamation as required by section 305(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it has become inevitably compelling for me to invoke the provision of section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State with effect from today, 18th March, 2025 and I so do.”
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