President Bola Tinubu has lifted the emergency rule in Rivers State after six months, restoring Governor Siminalayi Fubara and state lawmakers to office.
The emergency was imposed after a bitter political fight between Fubara and members of the state assembly, who tried to impeach him over budget issues. Tinubu said the step was needed to stop the state from sliding into chaos. During the period, a retired navy chief was appointed to run the state.
This decision was unusual. Nigeria has declared emergencies before, such as during the Boko Haram insurgency in 2013 but governors were not suspended at the time. That makes Rivers a rare case where both the governor and the assembly were sidelined.
Rivers is one of Nigeria’s main oil-producing states, and some see the intervention as more about protecting oil revenues than about fixing local politics.
With the emergency lifted, normal governance will resume. But the rift between the governor and his rivals has not gone away, and it remains to be seen whether the state can avoid another crisis without federal intervention.
Source: Viewers Corner News