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Emergency Rule: Fubara May Shift Ground After Tinubu’s UK Meeting
There are indications that suspended Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, is warming up to making concessions to ease the political tension in the state.
This followed Fubara’s meeting with President Bola Tinubu in London during the latter’s 18-day retreat in Europe.
The meeting, confirmed by The Africa Report, was at the request of Governor Fubara, who first came into office in May 2023.
Although The PUNCH could not confirm details of the meeting at press time, a senior presidential adviser told the Paris-based publication that, Fubara “pledged to make certain concessions in a bid to ease tensions.”
“It is true. Governor Fubara held a private meeting with the president last week.
“Fubara has promised to make some compromises. Negotiations are ongoing, but from all indications, his suspension will be lifted before the six-month deadline,” said an adviser to the president who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official hinted that negotiations are ongoing and that his six‑month suspension could be cut short.
Another aide added that Fubara is weighing a switch from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to the ruling APC to get on the good side of the president.
“If Fubara joins the APC, it means the president’s chances of winning Rivers State are much higher,” the aide told the French magazine.
Presidential aides contacted by our correspondent said they were not on the latest private trip with the President and, therefore, did not witness the closed-door meeting.
It is first face‑to‑face since Tinubu invoked Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution on 18 March, declaring a state of emergency in Rivers and ousting Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu.
Tinubu’s national broadcast on March 18 cited “months of intense political instability” that had “paralysed governance” and “threatened national stability.”
He installed former Navy Chief, Vice‑Admiral Ibok‑Ete Ekwe Ibas, as sole administrator.
Opposition governors from seven PDP‑ruled states immediately filed suit at the Supreme Court, challenging the decree’s constitutionality and demanding a return to democratic rule.
The political crisis, which has paralysed governance in the oil-rich state, stems from a power struggle between Fubara and his estranged godfather, Nyesom Wike, now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
The turmoil escalated after Fubara demolished the state’s House of Assembly complex in December 2023, leading to a prolonged battle over the legitimacy of the legislative arm.
Things went further south when 27 lawmakers, loyal to Wike, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, prompting legal disputes over their status.
On February 28, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that the lawmakers remained valid members of the Assembly, faulting the governor’s actions as unconstitutional and tantamount to despotism.
The judgment noted that Rivers State had effectively collapsed into one-man rule due to the absence of a functioning legislature.
Despite the ruling, governance remained stalled, with the Assembly and executive failing to cooperate.
As of March 2025 the state’s annual Appropriation Bill had not been passed.
Hours before Tinubu declared emergency rule, an explosion rocked a section of the Trans Niger Pipeline in Bodo Community in Gonna Local Government Area of Rivers State.
A second explosion ruptured a pipeline manifold in the Omwawriwa axis of Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of the State.
Citing fresh security reports at the time, Tinubu expressed concern over recent vandalisation of oil pipelines by militants, allegedly acting in support of Fubara.
The President, who had been in Paris, then London since April 2, agreed to meet Fubara in an attempt to defuse the lingering crisis.
The duo discussed restoring functional government in the oil‑rich state, officials say.
Neither side disclosed details, but sources said the talks may see Fubara back in power before his six-month suspension elapses in September.
It was learned that Fubara’s estranged political godfather now FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, was not part of the meeting and was nervous about such an arrangement holding without him.
However, Tinubu is expected to meet Fubara, Wike, and the Rivers State lawmakers to chart a lasting solution to the political crisis in the state.
In light of the Kwara State Government’s fresh prosecution of Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and his successor over the Offa robbery, fresh facts have emerged on why the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mr. E. U. (Etsu Umar) Mohammed gave the duo a clean bill of health.
The Federal Director of Public Prosecutions cleared former Senate President Bukola Saraki of involvement in the Offa bank robbery in 2018, citing no evidence of a connection.
It was gathered that the DPP reviewed a 16-page police report prepared and signed by Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police and then head of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IGP-IRT) at Force Headquarters, Abuja. The report detailed investigations into the April 5, 2018, multiple bank robbery attack in Offa, Kwara State.
The DPP in his first report dated June 22, 2018 and signed on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, prepared a five page legal advice in which he noted in paragraph 5 (f) that “for the Senate President (Saraki) and the Kwara State Governor (Ahmed), his office is unable to establish from the evidence in the interim report a nexus between the alleged offence and the suspects. Hence, it is our advice that further and thorough investigation in this regard be carried out”.
Following the submission of a second report by the police investigating team to his office on July 27, 2018, the DPP prepared a second legal advice, which was dated August 23, 2018. The three-page legal advice also has only three paragraphs.
In paragraph 3 (vi), he noted that “with regards to the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, since there is no departure from the earlier findings in the interim report, this office is still unable to establish any prima facie case against him for any offences of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, and culpable homicide punishable with death”.
Both legal advices had recommended six people for prosecution. They are: Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Ibrahim, Salawudeen Azeez, Niyi Ogundiran, and Michael Adiukwu.
One of the suspects, Michael Adiukwu, later died in police custody, while the other five had since been tried at the High Court in Ilorin.
During the trial, the suspects revealed how they were coerced into incriminating Senator Bukola Saraki.
They mentioned several inducements dangled before them, including money and the promise of a visa to travel out of the country.
The suspects have since been convicted and their convictions confirmed by the Court of Appeal. The matter is now pending before the apex court, the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Terrorists have abducted a traditional ruler in Olayinka community, located in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Oba Salman Olátúnjí Aweda and are demanding a ₦400 million ransom for his release.
The abduction occurred on April 18, 2026, when armed men, suspected to be militia herdsmen, invaded the community and took the monarch, his wife, and another resident into the forest.
According to JomogNews, residents who witnessed the incident said the terrorists, numbering over 10, invaded the monarch’s residence around Saturday midnight, forced the door open, and abducted him alongside another person in the house.
The assailants reportedly led both victims into the bush.
Chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Area, Mr Abdulrasheed Femi Yusuf, visited the community on Saturday on a sympathy visit and assured residents that efforts were underway to secure the monarch’s release.
“We are deeply concerned about this incident, and we are taking swift and decisive action in collaboration with security agencies,” he said.
Bishop David Oyedepo, General Overseer of Living Faith Church Worldwide, has declared that bandits and their sponsors will face divine judgment and retribution within seven days.
Speaking on Sunday, April 19, 2026, during a service themed “Covenant Day of Vengeance” at the church’s headquarters in Ota, Ogun State, the cleric stated that those responsible for killings and kidnappings would face imminent consequences.
“I declare judgement on those who caused these tragedies and their supporters in the name of Jesus,” he said.
The cleric further asserted that divine retribution would occur within a short timeframe.
“Unless I am not sent, this will happen in the next seven days,” he added.
Oyedepo also expressed confidence that Nigerians would soon witness outcomes of what he described as divine intervention, noting that the coming days would bring “testimonies of vengeance.”
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