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.
However, the emergency rule has been praised by the pro-Nyesom Wike suspended lawmakers, who accused Fubara of contravening the Supreme Court ruling on the political situation in the state. For two years, Wike, the immediate-past governor of Rivers State, and his estranged ex-political godson Fubara have locked horns over the control of the political structure in the state.
The last time a president declared an emergency rule in Nigeria was on May 14, 2013, when Goodluck Jonathan imposed it on the entire northeast insurgent-ridden states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa.
At a State House briefing on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, defended his principal’s stance, pointedly blaming Fubara for not implementing the February 28, 2025 raft of decisions of the Supreme Court on Rivers State’s protracted political crisis.
Fagbemi said the emergency rule declaration was some sort of saving grace for Fubara who had been served impeachment notice by pro-Wike lawmakers.
The justice minister thereby advised all those who do not agree with the president’s move to channel their energy to the National Assembly to veto the president’s decision. He added that the state’s blocked allocations might be released to the new administrator.
Like Senate, Like Reps
All eyes thereafter turned to the House of Representatives and the Senate on Thursday, March 20, 2025, to either reject or accept Tinubu’s proclamation. Many top voices, on behalf of millions of constituents in the country, passionately appealed to their representatives in the National Assembly to vote out the president’s proclamation.
To seal his move as required by the constitution, Tinubu had on Wednesday written separate letters to the upper and lower chambers, seeking approval for the imposition of his emergency rule in Rivers State. The motion on the president’s letter was shut down at both chambers earlier on Wednesday.
However, on Thursday, in the Green Chambers, 240 lawmakers, in a voice vote, threw their weights behind the president, giving a seal of approval to his decision.
The House led by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, however, made some amendments to the proclamation including the set-up of a committee of eminent Nigerians to mediate on the matter during the period of emergency.
The lawmakers disagreed with Tinubu’s position that the new administrator report to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) instead of the National Assembly.
The House of Representatives also said the state of emergency could be reviewed and terminated at any time within the initial six months, as proclaimed, based on progress made about peace.
Just like the lower legislative house controlled by the president’s party, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the 109-member Red Chambers, in a voice note, approved Tinubu’s proclamation of a state of emergency in Rivers State, invoking its constitutional powers under the amended 1999 Constitution.
The Senate also imposed a joint committee of both chambers to oversee the administration of affairs in Rivers State during the emergency period. The upper house aligned with the lower house on the committee of eminent Nigerians to resolve the crisis.
Tinubu has since showered praises on the lawmakers for supporting his emergency rule in Rivers but many Nigerians are utterly dismayed by the National Assembly’s position, labelling the Akpabio-led Senate and Abbas-led House as rubberstamp and noting that their approval of emergency rule and the suspension of elected officials are dangerous for Nigeria’s nascent democracy.
