President Bola Ahmed Tinubu proceeded with the swearing-in of Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd) as the sole administrator of Rivers State, despite the National Assembly’s failure to approve his earlier declaration of a state of emergency in the region and criticism continues to trail the state of emergency declaration.
The ceremony took place in Aso Rock, Abuja on Wednesday 19 March, 2025, a day after Tinubu announced the emergency measure in a nationwide broadcast, citing a prolonged political crisis and incidents of pipeline vandalism as justification.
Under Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, such a proclamation requires a two-thirds majority approval from both chambers of the National Assembly within two days — a step that, as of Wednesday evening, had not been completed due to reported delays in convening the required quorum.
The Senate had deferred its debate on the motion to Thursday, 20 March, following a procedural postponement led by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, leaving the legal status of Tinubu’s declaration in question.
Critics, including opposition lawmakers and legal experts, swiftly condemned the move as unconstitutional, arguing that the president’s unilateral action bypassed legislative oversight and undermined democratic principles.
The Nigerian Bar Association echoed this sentiment, asserting that the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu and the state legislature lacked constitutional grounding without National Assembly consent.
This development has drawn parallels to Tinubu’s past criticism of emergency declarations. In 2013, as the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Tinubu vocally opposed then-President Goodluck Jonathan’s imposition of a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states amid the Boko Haram insurgency.
Despite the state of emergency then, none of the three governors or their deputies were removed from office by President Jonathan, unlike President Tinubu who has removed Governor Fubara and his deputy from office.
He argued that such measures risked alienating citizens, fostering radical ideologies, and eroding democratic governance, warning of “unpredictable consequences” from what he called politically motivated overreach.
Tinubu had emphasised the need for collaboration with state governments rather than executive fiat, a stance that now contrasts sharply with his current actions in Rivers.
The swearing-in of Ibas has intensified political tensions, with protests erupting in Port Harcourt and accusations of a power grab levelled against Tinubu’s administration.
Supporters, however, defend the move as a necessary intervention to stabilise Rivers amid its governance paralysis.
As the National Assembly prepares to reconvene, the nation awaits whether lawmakers will ratify or reject the emergency, a decision that could either legitimise Tinubu’s bold step or deepen the constitutional crisis unfolding in Nigeria’s oil-rich south.
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