President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced that effective midnight today, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara will return as Governor of Rivers state.
This is contained in a statement in Abuja.
President Tinubu said the Offices of the Governor, Deputy Governor, and elected members of the State House of Assembly were suspended for six months in the first instance as six months expire today, September 17th, 2025.
He recalled that on 18th March, 2025, he proclaimed a state of emergency in the state.
 The President said total paralysis of governance in Rivers State, which had led to the Governor of Rivers State and the House of Assembly being unable to work together necessitated the state of emergency while critical economic assets of the State, including oil pipelines, were being vandalized.
 He justified that the State House of Assembly was crisis-ridden, such that members of the House were divided into two groups as Four members worked with the Governor, while 27 members opposed the Governor.
 President Tinubu explained that serious constitutional impasse brought governance in the State to a standstill.
 He noted that his intervention and that of other well-meaning Nigerians to resolve the conflict proved abortive as both sides stuck rigidly to their positions to the detriment of peace and development of the State.
The President maintained that it therefore became painfully inevitable that to arrest the drift towards anarchy in Rivers State and obligated to invoke the powers conferred on me by Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to proclaim the state of emergency.
President Tinubu thanked the National Assembly, which, after critically evaluating the justification for the proclamation, took steps immediately, as required by the Constitution, to approve the declaration in the interest of peace and order in Rivers State.
He appreciated the traditional rulers and the good people of Rivers State for their support from the date of the declaration of the state of emergency until now.
