PORT HARCOURT — Governor Siminalayi Fubara said he deliberately refrained from mounting a constitutional challenge to the emergency that suspended parts of Rivers State’s institutions — a move he described as necessary to restore calm and protect citizens. The Fubara emergency rule decision, he insisted in a statewide broadcast on Friday, was calculated to prioritise peace and enable governance to resume after months of political paralysis.
“Throughout the crisis I weighed the legal options against the cost to ordinary people,” Fubara told audiences on his return to Port Harcourt, adding that cooperation with the federal intervention offered the quickest path to stability and the resumption of public services.
Fubara emergency rule explained
The emergency, imposed earlier this year amid violent clashes in the state and a split assembly, saw a federal administrator run the state for six months. Fubara’s government says the suspension followed escalating hostilities that undermined governance and threatened critical infrastructure. Returning officials have already begun administrative inspections and the House has opened plenary sittings to set a legislative agenda.
“Throughout the crisis I weighed the legal options against the cost to ordinary people,”
What this means for Rivers politics and governance
Fubara’s public acceptance of the end to emergency rule and his appeal for reconciliation signal an immediate pivot back to service delivery and commissioner confirmations. Analysts warn, however, that durable peace will require substantive power-sharing and transparent accountability for alleged abuses during the crisis. For voters, the immediate consequence is a return of elected governance — but for political operatives, the negotiation of influence has only moved to a new phase
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