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.
