What the President told the Governors could shape Nigeria’s political and economic future.
President Bola Tinubu has reminded state governors and Houses of Assembly across the country of the constitutional provision empowering the federal government to declare a state of emergency where public order and safety are under threat.
This was contained in the state house address where Rivers State Emergency Rule was lifted on Wednesday 17 September, 2025.
He stated: “But what needs to be said is that the power to declare a state of emergency is an inbuilt constitutional tool to address situations of actual or threatened breakdown of public order and public safety, which require extraordinary measures to return the State to peace, order and security. Considered objectively, we had reached that situation of total breakdown of public order and public safety in Rivers State, as shown in the judgment of the Supreme Court on the disputes between the Executive and the Legislative arm of Rivers State. It would have been a colossal failure on my part as President not to have made that proclamation.
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“The summary of it for context is that there was a total paralysis of governance in Rivers State, which had led to the Governor of Rivers State and the House of Assembly being unable to work together. Critical economic assets of the State, including oil pipelines, were being vandalised. The State House of Assembly was crisis-ridden, such that members of the House were divided into two groups. Four members worked with the Governor, while 27 members opposed the Governor.
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The latter group supported the Speaker. As a result, the Governor could not present any Appropriation Bill to the House, to enable him to access funds to run Rivers State’s affairs. That serious constitutional impasse brought governance in the State to a standstill. Even the Supreme Court, in one of its judgments in a series of cases filed by the Executive and the Legislative arms of Rivers State against each other, held that there was no government in Rivers State.
My intervention and that of other well-meaning Nigerians to resolve the conflict proved abortive as both sides stuck rigidly to their positions to the detriment of peace and development of the State.”
