Move To Extend Rivers Emergency Rule Collapses As Tinubu Orders Ibas To Submit Comprehensive Handover Note
Following a closed-door meeting between President Bola Tinubu and the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok Ibas, retd, in the Presidential Villa last Wednesday, there are strong indications that suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Prof Ngozi Odu, and the 32-member House of Assembly may return on September 18, 2025.
At the meeting, Ibas was “ordered” by President Tinubu to ensure that he submits a comprehensive handover note of his six-month emergency rule before his 10-day vacation ends.
According to a source privy to this development, the detailed handover notes should explain all the funds inherited from Fubara, revenues accrued within the six months of the emergency rule and their respective sources “as well as expenditures during his stewardship and the various projects the funds were channeled into within the period under review, with clear specifications.”
The Wednesday night’s high-stakes meeting, therefore, nailed the coffin of a frantic move by powerful forces in the National Assembly to help push for a three-month extension period for Ibas, which would have seen him remaining on the saddle till December 2025.
Those behind this move were of the opinion that, according to the source, “the three months window would allow Ibas to complete some of the key ongoing projects like the reconstruction of the demolished House of Assembly Complex, the ongoing workers verification exercise and the installation of sensitive equipment in government institutions.”
If this move had scaled through the hurdle, then Fubara and all the democratic institutions would only need to wait till January 2026 to be restored. However, with the peace deal struck “whether pyrrhic or long lasting”, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Nyesom Wike “is vehemently against such backdoor scheme and wants the emergency rule lifted as soon as practicable on September 18.
@Ogachruba