Engage Abdulsalami Committee, Restore Fubara, Rep member Tells Tinubu

Awaji-Inombek Abiante, a member of the House of Representatives( Rep) who represents Rivers State’s

Andoni/Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency, has requested that President Bola Tinubu reinstate Governor Siminalayi

Fubara prior to the end of the six-month emergency rule period.

According to Awaji-Inombek Abiante, the president may have falsified the intelligence that he used to declare state of

emergency in Rivers.

The lawmaker who spoke while appearing on a media interview also called on the president to engage the National

Peace Committee headed by former Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar to mediate with the warring parties in the

oil-rich state and find a common ground for peace.

Tinubu, in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, imposed a state of emergency in Rivers State and

suspended Fubara and his deputy Ngozi Odu, as well as the Rivers State House of Assembly members, for six

months. Tinubu also appointed ex-naval chief Vice Admiral Ibok-ete Ibas (rtd) as sole administrator for the state for

the period of the emergency rule.

Citing Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution as justification, Tinubu stated that he could not stand by and watch the

political situation in Rivers worsen without doing something about it. In a contentious and much criticised voice vote,

the National Assembly supported his decision.

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Numerous prominent Nigerians, legal experts, and organisations, including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi

Amaechi, Femi Falana, the Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Nigerian Bar Association, the

Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), and others, have specifically rejected and denounced the suspension of Fubara and

other democratically elected representatives.

Even the National Assembly’s activities, according to Abiante, have some gaps because arrangements were not made

for those who opted to vote yes, nay, or abstain.

Among the holes in the president’s statements, he claimed, is the fact that Fubara did not attempt to reconstruct the

destroyed Rivers State House of Assembly chambers. “That is not correct,” he stated, referring to the new sole

administrator’s visit to inspect the structure that Fubara had begun to construct.

Abiante recommended that the Abdulsalami-led peace committee be asked to step in and resolve the political issue

facing the state. Prominent Nigerians in the peace committee include Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Muhammadu Sa’ad III, the Sultan of Sokoto, and others.