Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has urged political leaders in Rivers State to draw lessons from the six-month emergency rule imposed earlier this year and prioritise peace and reconciliation.
Obi, in a statement via his X handle on Thursday, described President Bola Tinubu’s March 18 declaration of emergency rule in Rivers as a “constitutional breach” that undermined democracy. He, however, welcomed the suspension of the measure, which Tinubu announced on Wednesday, citing “a groundswell of a new spirit of understanding.”
The intervention had seen Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and the state assembly sidelined, while Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.) was appointed Sole Administrator.
Quoting Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, Obi argued that emergency powers should be reserved for grave threats to national security, not political crises.
“I just hope that some lessons were learned by all the gladiators in the Rivers State impasse. A true leader is one who admits mistakes, is smart enough to learn from them, and strong enough to correct them,” Obi stated.
He congratulated Rivers residents for their resilience “in the face of provocations” and appealed to Governor Fubara, lawmakers, and other political actors to put aside divisions and move forward.
The crisis in Rivers, rooted in the rivalry between Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike—now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory—triggered mass defections in the state assembly and deepened allegations of corruption and sabotage, leading to governance paralysis.
