President Bola Tinubu on Thursday held a high-level reconciliation meeting with Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike, and Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martins Amaewhule, marking a potential turning point in the prolonged political crisis that led to a state of emergency in Rivers State.
The closed-door meeting, which also included other state lawmakers, is the first time Governor Fubara has met with the President since his suspension alongside his deputy and the state Assembly members on March 18, 2025. Tinubu had suspended the officials and imposed emergency rule in the oil-rich state, citing the breakdown in relations between the executive and legislature and growing security concerns.
Although no official statement has been released, images from the meeting showing Tinubu, Fubara, and Wike smiling and walking together with lawmakers have fuelled speculations of an imminent end to the state of emergency.
Tinubu had invoked Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, stating he could not sit idly as the political turmoil in Rivers escalated. The decision, however, sparked widespread condemnation from across the political spectrum. Critics, including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, Femi Falana, and civil society groups such as the Nigerian Bar Association and PANDEF, decried the suspension of elected officials as unconstitutional.
For nearly two years, the Wike and Fubara factions have been locked in a fierce power struggle over the state’s political structure. The Amaewhule-led Assembly, largely aligned with Wike, had threatened to impeach Governor Fubara over his alleged refusal to implement a Supreme Court judgment related to the crisis.
Thursday’s meeting appears to have cooled tensions, raising hopes that federal intervention may be winding down. If lifted, it would end Nigeria’s first emergency rule since former President Goodluck Jonathan imposed it on the insurgency-hit northeastern states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa in 2013.
