Politics
Tinubu Ends Rivers Emergency Rule, ADC Reacts with Reservations
Onyenobi Chinwendu Samuel
September 20, 2025
Rivers State 🇳🇬 – The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has expressed strong reservations over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision to lift the six-month emergency rule in Rivers State, describing the move as a breach of democratic principles and state autonomy.
In a statement released on Thursday 18th September, 2025 by its National Publicity Secretary, Bola Abdullahi, the ADC said Tinubu’s actions in Rivers State amounted to an overreach of presidential powers under the guise of leadership.
President Tinubu, in a national broadcast on Wednesday, formally announced the end of the emergency rule imposed on Rivers since March 18, 2025. He declared that Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, Speaker Martins Amaewhule, and members of the State House of Assembly would all return to their offices effective September 18, 2025.
“It gives me great pleasure to declare that the emergency in Rivers State of Nigeria shall end with effect from midnight today,” Tinubu stated.
Reacting, the ADC said the termination announcement exposed a deeper constitutional problem, questioning the legality of suspending and reinstating elected officials by presidential directive.
“On Wednesday, September 17, Nigerians witnessed a curious spectacle: President Tinubu directing the Governor, Deputy Governor, and members of the State Assembly in Rivers State to resume duties after serving his six-month suspension from office,” the statement read.
“The President’s decision to arrogate to himself the power to suspend and recall elected officials in Rivers State, as he had done, is whimsically autocratic and should be recognised and condemned as a threat to our democracy.”
The party further argued that the move was more political than democratic, warning that such interventions weaken the federal system and erode the sovereignty of the people.
“This is politics masquerading as leadership, and it will define President Tinubu’s legacy. Such actions undermine state autonomy and the rule of law,” Abdullahi stressed.
Meanwhile, the Presidency has defended the intervention, insisting that Tinubu acted within Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution to prevent instability in Rivers. Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said the President’s actions restored peace, preserved democracy, and safeguarded governance in the state.
The contrasting positions have ignited further national debate ; with the ADC portraying the intervention as a constitutional overreach, and the Presidency describing it as a necessary stabilising measure.
FCT Minister and former governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, has said that any senator, House of Representatives Member, Minister, or governor who supports betrayers will suffer betrayal in their lives and that such person will join their creator when they experience their own betrayal.
Wike who is currently in a running battle with his godson and incumbent governor of Rivers state, Sim Fubara, said this while speaking at a public function in the state today February 6.
Speaking to the crowd at the public function, Wike said
‘’Wether you are a Senator, House of Reps member, a Minister or Governor, and you support betrayers, people will continue to betray you in life. You see people who betray and support them, betrayal is your portion! Betrayal is your portion! and that day you will not have mouth to say anything and there you will collapse and there you will go and they will announce such person has died because that is the seed you have planted because whatever you plant, you reap and so since you are sowing betrayal, betrayal will always follow you.
Watch! Every governor who is doing his second term and has ambition to put a successor and is supporting betrayals, you will never survive it. Betrayal will follow you. From the day your successor comes in. My own took so many months, your own will start immediately the person has been inaugurated. That is what the gods of the land have told me to tell all of you’’
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Chairman, Policy Manifesto Committee of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, John Odigie-Oyegun, says former president Muhammadu Buhari gave him the shock of his life, six months into his administration as Nigeria’s leader.
Oyegun made this disclosure on Friday when he featured in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Prime Time’.
He revealed that as National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, he went to tell Buhari that he was not delivering his election promises to Nigerians but that the late president told him he would not rule with strictness, but rather wanted to show Nigerians that he is a true civilian president.
The former APC National Chairman lamented that it became business as usual, from there.
“I was national chairman of the APC. Six months or less into our assuming office, fairly alarmed, I went to the late President Buhari for a one-on-one talk. I said Mr President, this is not what the people were expecting. They wanted a bit of the old president Buhari.
“And he explained to me, Mr Chairman, I have learned my lesson. I was shocked. And don’t forget at that time, a lot of prominent Nigerians took their holidays abroad, just to be sure and see what this new sheriff in town will be.
“Buhari told me he wants to now show the people that he’s a true civilian president in Agbada. And by the time we finished the conversation, I said Oh God, we are finished. Because, if he’s not ready to be strict, what’s the point?
“Weeks later, months later, years later, I was proven correct. And of course, it became business as usual, only that they are a new set of tenants in Aso Rock. That was a shocker,” he said.
Former lawmaker, Dino Melaye Esq, has raised concerns over the Senate’s reported rejection of the electronic transmission of election results.
The move, according to Melaye, is a clear endorsement of election rigging and an indication of a sinister plan to rig the 2027 elections.
In a statement on Friday, the former lawmaker criticized the Senate’s decision, stating that it undermines the credibility of the electoral process.
The African Democratic Congress, ADC chieftain, also stated that the move opens the door for electoral manipulation and fraud.
He further warned that the rejection of electronic transmission of results is a step backwards for democracy in Nigeria.
Melaye called on lawmakers and citizens to stand up against “this blatant attempt to undermine the will of the people and ensure that future elections are free, fair, and transparent”.
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