September 21, (THEWILL) — The first sign of the disconnect between Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and some of his key loyalists and supporters was the reception scheduled for Thursday, September 18, 2025, which failed to take place due to his absence. The crowd that had gathered to welcome him back to the state after the restoration of democratic governance, went home disappointed.
Among the governor’s close allies were top political leaders, such as his former Chief of Staff Edison Ehie, Evans Bipi, Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, sacked Local Government Chairmen Obio/Akpor, Chijoke Ihunwo, his Port Harcourt City counterpart, Ezebunwo Itche-Mati, who led their colleagues and the crowd collectively known as Simplified.
THEWILL gathered that Fubara’s Chief of Staff, Ehie, Bipi and a media influencer, called Sotanye Fulton had his ears and eyes during the stormy days that preceded the declaration of Emergency rule by President Bola Tinubu on March 18, 2025. But a day after the restoration of suspended democratic structures, the out-going Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.) had officially announced the handover of the reins of administration to Governor Fubara, his staunch supporters could only anticipate his whereabouts.
On Friday when he finally hit the state, the same confidants were among a larger crowd of former Commissioners and the governor’s kinsmen from the Ijaw ethnic group.
“Let me first of all appreciate the wonderful people of Rivers State. I’m really humbled by what I saw at the airport. I was briefed on some photographs of what happened here yesterday. That reception really humbled me,” the governor told the crowd that welcomed him, though they included a former Commissioner for Information and Communications, Barr. Emma Okah; former Commissioner for Health, Dr Adaeze Oreh; former Nigerian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Oji Ngofa; former Commissioner for Environment, Sydney Gbara; and former factional Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Victor Oko-Jumbo.
Others present were former Commissioner for Youths, Chisom Gbali; former Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Evans Bipi; former President of NUPENG, Igwe Achese; former Commissioner for Education, Dr. Tamunosisi Gogo-Jaja; as well as former chairmen of Port Harcourt City LGA, Ezebunwo Ichemati, and Obio/Akpor LGA, Chijioke Ihunwo.
“The governor accepted all the terms and conditions of the peace talks and it will be the height of foolishness if he were to renege on them,” a top government source told this newspaper on Friday, adding, “If anyone thinks they are going to influence him, I will say good luck to such a person. It is true that he was restored due to the public outcry against emergency rule. But the local government poll has been conducted with the opposition in overwhelming majority. Members of the State House of Assembly, no matter their pretence, are not with him. Unless he bends to what they want, I would say may God help us all.”
Mr Jake Epelle, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Albina Foundation, TAF, identified misplaced priorities among the major actors in the crisis that led Rivers to the current state of affairs.
He told THEWILL: “Leadership requires that purpose is placed above positions. Why can’t we stand up and say, “I reject this position if it does not follow the operative principle. So, when we decide to choose a position over and above principle, this is what you get.”
GOVERNOR’S POSITION
Apart from losing grip of the grassroots, following the recently conducted LGA poll which the All Progressives Congress, APC, won with 23 seats to 3 for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, agreeing to a peace agreement brokered by President Tinubu in the Villa in June 25, 2025, one of the major reasons the governor resumed on Friday as against Thursday that many of his supporters had anticipated, was to clear with the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, the final hurdle to his smooth take-off.
That hurdle was the appointments of key officials in the state. THEWILL investigation shows that Wike will appoint the Chief of Staff, while the list of Commissioner-nominees will be shared.
Political patronage in Nigeria often serves to empower loyalists or emasculate them when excluded. To keep some of his key supporters, the governor will be allowed to nominate some commissioners alongside the minister.
The FCT minister has however denied having any hand in the nomination of commissioners. He told national television last week that he had no hand in the appointment of Commissioners.
Wike said: “I cannot impose anything on the governor. Why should I impose anything on the governor? Assuming I go to the governor and he says no, will the state collapse? I will not and I have no candidate, even if the governor comes to me now and said we have agreed to work together, which is natural. I will say ‘look I give you a free hand to pick what you want for the state.
“All I want to say is I know what I did and what I have done to keep the state to this level, don’t drop it, move ahead. As I speak to you, I left the state where we can compete favourably with Lagos and I can challenge anybody.”
A chieftain of the APC in the state, Tonye Cole, however argued that the peace deal, the recently conducted LGA polls have emasculated Governor Fubara. Cole, the APC governorship candidate in the 2023 election, said in a TV interview that Fubara has returned to office after six months of emergency rule with “zero powers.”
“My prayer is that as we come back, because we don’t know what we’re going to see starting from tomorrow, the one thing that we are sure of is that the governor is not in a position to make any decisions,” he said, adding, “With the details of the peace deal still unclear, I cannot tell the extent or the limits of the powers that he has now.”
Cole urged the governor to sit with Wike and decide what will be the limits of his powers in the current circumstance.
RIVERS ASSEMBLY INSISTS ON PEACE AGREEMENT
However, the submission of the Commissioner-nominees list by the governor for screening and confirmation was a key decision taken by the Rivers State House of Assembly during its first plenary after six months of emergency rule. Speaker Martin Amaewhule presided over the meeting held at the Conference Hall of the Legislative Quarters in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
Other requests to the governor included a submission of Rivers State Appropriation Bill, while noting that members would review how funds were spent during the six months of emergency rule. The Speaker emphasised that the demands were in line with the peace agreement.
“The House resolved to call on Governor Siminialayi Fubara to forward the list of commissioner-nominees to the House for screening and confirmation in line with the Constitution and the terms of the peace parley,” Amaewhule said, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Martins Wachukwu. Amaewhule added: “Going forward, the House will work with the governor and abide by the terms of the peace parley and the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the interest of peace and good governance in the State.”
PEACE AGREEMENT
The eight-point peace agreement brokered by President Tinubu and other relevant stakeholders at a crucial meeting in the Presidential Villa, Abuja in June included: All matters instituted in the courts by Governor Fubara and his team, in respect of the political crisis in Rivers State, shall be withdrawn immediately; All impeachment proceedings initiated against the governor of Rivers State by the Rivers State House of Assembly should be dropped immediately; The leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly as led by the Amaewhule shall be recognised alongside the 27 members who resigned from the PDP; The remuneration and benefits of all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and their staff must be reinstated immediately and the governor of Rivers State shall, henceforth, not interfere with the full funding of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
LESSONS LEARNT
Amid the renewal of democratic governance in the state, stakeholders and pundits have suggested a series of lessons to be drawn from the emergency rule.
According to a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Monday Ubani, there are legal, political and personal lessons. Speaking with THEWILL on Friday, he said that the overriding interest of the people should henceforth guide the actions of elected, appointed and interested parties in the state.
He said, “Now that democratic structures have been restored in the state, I will advise all the involved parties to allow the interests of the people to override all other interests. Accountability should be to the people and unnecessary demands that lead to the denial of the rights of others should be avoided. Governor Fubara may have learnt his lessons, having fallen out with his godfather. Rivers people deserve good governance now.”
Ubani who argued that the constitutionality of emergency rule was still a subject of debate between what he called the interventionist school who support the suspension of compromised political actors such as the late Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa did in 1962 in the old Western Region, former President Olusegun Obansanjo repeated in Plateau State in 2004 and Ekiti in 2006 and President Tinubu did on March 18, 2025 Rivers State and the preservationist school who support retaining elected institutions thereby strengthening constitutionalism as ex-President Goodluck Jonathan did in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe State in 2013, urged the various interests in Rivers State to march on for the sake of peace.
“The Supreme Court of Nigeria may not revisit the constitutionality of the President’s action, as it appears for now to be an academic exercise. What President Bola Tinubu enjoys, however, is not judicial precedent but deep political precedent, stretching back to 1962.” The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, added.
Mr Epelle simply said, “Democracy has spoken,” explaining further that “those who say the President did us a favour by restoring democratic structures are wrong. His hands were tied, there is nothing else he could have done about it than to restore democratic structures. No elected individual has the right to circumvent the process that brought him to power. I think this should serve as a deterrent that we should learn to keep our democratic values.”
Asked as an indigene of Rivers State if he foresees any challenges ahead, he said, “Your guess is as good as mine. Honesty is one of the things that guides a process and when there is no such thing, it is always problematic.”
GOVERNOR FUBARA BURIES THE HATCHET
Shortly after resuming office on Friday, Governor Fubara addressed the people of Rivers State in a broadcast, stating why he accepted to abide by the state of emergency, chose to cooperate with President Tinubu and settle his differences with Wike.
Among other things, he said, “As your governor, I accepted to abide by the state of emergency declaration and chose to cooperate with Mr President and the National Assembly, guided by my conviction that the sacrifice was not too great to secure peace, stability and progress of Rivers State.
“This was why I also resisted the pressure to challenge the constitutionality of the declaration of the state of emergency, the suspension of democratic institutions and all other actions that we endured during the difficult period,” he said.
“Our leader, Nyesom Wike, all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and I as your governor have all accepted to bury the hatchet and embrace peace and reconciliation in the best interest of our dear state.”
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
