Tinubu accused of handing Rivers political structure to Wike for 2027 agenda

Keep up with the latest news and be part of our weekly giveaways and airtime sharing; follow our WhatsApp channel for more updates. Click to Follow us

Rivers State residents and political activists are disappointed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has not seized the chance to bring back democratic rule in Rivers State on June 12, 2025, the day Nigeria celebrated 26 years of unbroken democracy.

Speculations heightened hopes that the president will recall Governor Siminalayi Fubara to commemorate his actions on Democracy Day and remove the undemocratic government in Rivers State.

Nevertheless, when the President spoke to a joint session of the National Assembly, he made no mention of the state, which disappointed those expectations.

In an attempt to bring peace to the state, which he said was spiraling out of hand under Fubara’s leadership, Tinubu suspended democratic government in Rivers for six months.

under his remarks, Tinubu bemoaned the ongoing crisis and insisted that democratic governance—for which Nigerians, he said, have battled and worked for years—could not flourish under such conditions in a way that would benefit the state’s citizens.

“Some militants had threatened fire and brimstone against their perceived enemy of the governor who has up till now NOT disowned them,” Tinubu said.

The President claims that in March 18, 2025, it became unavoidably necessary for him to invoke Section 305 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 Constitution as amended, which gave him the authority to proclaim a state of emergency in the state.

The President lamented that the state had been in a stalemate since the beginning of the crisis until the suspension. Even though the Sole Administrator receives monthly appropriations, some state officials who talked to ZINGTIE claimed that the situation has gotten worse.

According to ZINGTIE, the Governor attempted to represent the 2025 state appropriation bill in the State Assembly, but the House reportedly rejected his efforts.

As directed by the court, Fubara arrived to deliver the state’s 2025 budget on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, but was refused entry to the Rivers State House of Assembly quarters, where members currently convene in plenary sessions.

According to ZINGTIE, Fubara has made at least two trips to see his benefactor and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike in an attempt to mend fences since the emergency rule was declared.

According to reliable information obtained by ZINGTIE, on Monday, June 13, 2025, Fubara met with Wike at his home in Abuja.

Prior to Democracy Day, he also had a meeting with President Tinubu at his Lagos home.

When all of this was considered, some Nigerians anticipated that on June 12, the President would end the six-month suspension and restore democratic governance to Rivers State.

In his speech to a joint session of the National Assembly, Henry Seriake Dickson, a former governor of Bayelsa State and senator representing the Bayelsa West seat, criticized Tinubu for his silence regarding the emergency rule in Rivers State.

Dickson expressed his expectation that Tinubu will utilize the June 12 Democracy Day to reinstate democratic governance in Rivers State, highlighting the event’s symbolic significance.

The senator expressed sadness that the president’s decision to omit Rivers State from his speech cost him a great chance to bolster democracy.

“You cannot claim to be a democrat on one hand, while trampling democracy underfoot on the other. The President missed a golden opportunity today to strengthen democracy by restoring constitutional rule in Rivers State.

“The silence on Rivers State in the President’s address was deafening. Today is not about repression. It’s not about the suppression of voices. It’s about upholding and respecting the democratic rights of Nigerians, especially the people of Rivers State.

“This is not about Governor Fubara’s origin or political party, if he even has one. Today, people switch parties so frequently we can hardly keep track. This is about the people of Rivers State, their democratic rights, and the sanctity of our Constitution,” he said.

Chizy Enyi, Esq., a political activist, lawyer, and leader of the All Progressives Congress located in Port Harcourt, told ZINGTIE that the president’s only concern at this time is getting re-elected in 2027.

“It is now obvious and in the public domain that the reason behind Tinubu’s suspending the executive governor of Rivers State is to take control of the state and to win the election in Rivers State by 2027.

Even though it is against the Constitution, Rivers State and its citizens cannot use self-help by demeaning the president to assume control of the state since they supported or elected Fubara, whom Tinubu lacks the authority to remove from office.

“However, having suspended Governor Fubara, we’re all aware that Tinubu said he is saving Rivers State from an impending crisis. Now, the problem between Governor Fubara and Wike has always been his political structure, ‘my structure, my structure.’ He always said the Governor should not tamper with his structure.

“But then what he refers to as a structure is the local government, the party officials, and the cabinet of the governor, appointments and all that.

In an area where there is military rule, Tinubu has now chosen a Sole Administrator who has resorted to electing local government representatives and other board members.

“Now that we are under military rule, how can we also conduct elections under military rule? Now, conducting elections and giving appointments to all Wike’s supporters, having appointed the Sole Administrators of the various local governments, all as Wike’s supporters, is the evidence of the fact that truly Tinubu has resorted to giving Wike the structure he meant.

“Else, how will Tinubu suspend the sitting governor and then allow the election of local government chairmen to be conducted? Now the Supreme Court said that the Sole Administrators, or any appointee, as a local government chairman, whether caretaker or underany nomenclature, should not head local government. But since the appointment of the Sole Administrator, he has also appointed the Sole Administrators of the various local governments. Tinubu has refused to acknowledge that this is against the provisions of the Constitution and also the judgment of the Supreme Court.

“Assuming it is the people of Fubara who are being appointed as the Sole Administrators of local governments, Wike’s supporters would have resorted to violence.

Wike’s supporters have always taken responsibility for the violence occurring in Rivers State. As everyone is aware, the issue in Rivers State is not with the governor or anything else; rather, it is with President Tinubu returning the infrastructure to Wike so that he can be delivered by 2027.

“We only have to be law-abiding, but in 2027, we are not yet very close to ’27 and yet they decided to do this to reverse people’s mandate. The President has decided to undermine Rivers State. For the past two years now that he was elected, he has not visited the state, yet he wants our votes.

“2027 will determine whether or not President Tinubu is doing well. By June 12, there were also many expectations that Fubara would have been reinstated. He [Tinubu] refused and deliberately turned down the hope, wishes, and aspirations of Rivers’ people. Time will tell, and history will always repeat itself.

“It’s going to be very bad that Rivers will always remember President Tinubu for bad instead of for good.”

Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a former national publicity secretary for the New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) and a leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), also told ZINGTIE that the president’s goal is to underdevelop Rivers State by suspending democracy.

According to Eze, Tinubu is planning to make sure that Rotimi Amaechi, the former minister of transportation, does not have a strong political base before the general elections in 2027.

“He is after Amaechi and not Rivers State per se,” he said, adding that Tinubu has captured the state for his 2027 agenda.

“President Tinubu is not being influenced by any external force, but this is his agenda, to underdevelop Rivers State to avoid the state from being developed like Lagos and Akwa Ibom States,” he said.

“It is a calculated strategy to ensure that Amaechi does not have a solid base politically. He is after Amaechi and not Rivers State per se.

“He has captured the resources of Rivers State for his 2027 agenda, but it is left to the people of Rivers State to continue to tolerate his evil agenda.

“The emergency rule will only end when he is sure that Sim Fubara is so incapacitated and ready to carry out their evil agenda against Rivers State and her people.

“From the security challenges facing many states where hundreds are being killed, we can now deduce accurately that it wasn’t any security challenge pertaining to Rivers State that brought about the state of emergency, but a selfish drive to destroy Rivers State.

“I am sad because some of the misguided fellows that call themselves leaders from the state are rejoicing and celebrating while Tinubu is destroying their state. May God have mercy upon them all.”

Dike Emmanuel, a Port Harcourt resident who called ZINGTIE, stated, “All the road projects that were started by Governor Fubara have been abandoned. There are no new ones. I wonder what the money from the Federation Account is being channeled to.”

When asked if the state is now at peace, Finipri Obomanu said, “Yes. There is peace in Rivers State even before the President suspended the Governor. If you are looking for places where people are being killed on a daily basis, you can go to Benue, Zamfara, Plateau, and all those places. Not Rivers. There was no need to declare a state of emergency here.”

According to the state’s citizens, the emergency rule prevents them from enjoying the benefits of democracy.

President Tinubu was also urged by the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Worldwide, to show his dedication to democratic principles by reestablishing constitutional democracy and abolishing the state of emergency that had been placed on Rivers State.

Prior to the June 12 celebration of this year’s Democracy Day, the Council issued this appeal.

It stated that Tinubu, who has benefited greatly from the nation’s democratic development, ought to take advantage of June 12 to reinstate Governor Siminalayi Fubara and all of the state’s elected officials.

Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it. 
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post.