President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared a state of emergency in Rivers state.
President Tinubu made the announcement in a nationwide broadcast over the political crisis and instability in the state
The President suspended the Governor of the State, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu; and all members of the Rivers assembly for an initial period of six months
According to him the latest security reports made available to him show that between yesterday and today there have been disturbing incidents of vandalization of pipelines by some militant without the Governor taking any action to curtail them.
President Tinubu said he had given stern order to the security agencies to ensure safety of lives of the good people of Rivers State and the oil pipelines.
According to him, with all these and many more, no good and responsible President will standby and allow the grave situation to continue without taking remedial steps prescribed by the Constitution to address the situation in the state, which no doubt requires extraordinary measures to restore good governance, peace, order and security.
He said in any 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 him as President to issue this proclamation as required by section 305(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it has become inevitably compelling for him 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.
