NASS Approves Tinubu’s Rivers Emergency Rule Despite Opposition
Despite stark opposition to the presidential proclamation imposing a state of emergency on oil-rich Rivers State, Nigeria’s two top legislative houses approved the March 18, 2025 declaration by President Bola Tinubu before the expiration of the 48-hour time allowed by the 1999 Constitution.
In separate voice votes, which have been faulted, the 109-member Senate and 360-member House of Representatives, dominated by the president’s party men, supported the emergency rule imposed by the commander-in-chief on the Niger Delta state.
Tinubu, in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, imposed a state of emergency in Rivers State, suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy Ngozi Odu; as well as the Rivers State House of Assembly members for six months in the first instance.
Tinubu hinged his decision on Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, saying he can’t continue to watch the political situation in Rivers escalate without taking any action.
The president immediately appointed and sworn in a retired naval chief, Vice Admiral Ibok-ete Ibas (rtd), as the sole administration for the oil-rich Niger Delta state.
The suspension of Fubara and other democratically elected representatives was expressly rejected and condemned by many eminent Nigerians, legal luminaries, and groups including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, Atedo Peterside, Nasir El-Rufai, Femi Falana, the Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Nigerian Bar Association, the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), among others.
