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2027: Fubara’s suspension, return won’t affect Tinubu’s re-election — Senator Arise

AnyFans 2025-10-04

By Taiwo Amodu

Senator Ayodele Arise, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress from Ekiti State, has criticised those who continue to question President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State last March.

In a national broadcast, President Tinubu announced a state of emergency in Rivers State, suspending Governor Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the state House of Assembly for an initial period of six months.

Following this, he appointed Ibokette Ibas, a retired vice admiral, as the Administrator to oversee the state’s affairs in the interest of its residents.

Governor Fubara and his deputy, along with the suspended lawmakers, resumed their offices after the six-month emergency period ended.

The action taken by President Tinubu faced criticism from the Peoples Democratic Party and the African Democratic Congress, both of which described it as a threat to democracy.

In a conversation with journalists over the weekend, Senator Arise pointed out that actions initiated by Governor Sim Fubara, such as the demolition of the state Assembly building, posed a significant danger to representative government.

The Senator, who represented the Ekiti North Senatorial District from 2007 to 2011, also recalled the bombings of oil installations in Rivers State prior to the emergency declaration, stating that these incidents were detrimental to the country’s economic survival.

He said, “The demolition of the structure of democracy itself which is the state Assembly, the lawmakers could not sit and oil installations were being bombed, necessitated the emergency rule that the President had to declare at that time.

“Governor Fubara’s actions against the state Assembly and the demolition thereafter actually gave a lot of room for a third party intervention, particularly the President.

“Being the President of the Federation, and the way tension was building in Rivers, it is a very important state when you look at our source of revenue. Rivers contributes a significant amount of money into the federation, ditto other states in the Delta region. Instigating violence there would drive away the engineers working in the oil rigs and those living in the Port Harcourt area. And so if the place becomes ungovernable and people live in fear the President would have failed in his responsibility if he didn’t take the action he took.”

“I believe the action taken by Mr. President will ensure that there is peace in Rivers even though I am not privy to the peace deal. The governor has come out in clear terms to say that he wants peace . So those who believe that there must be perpetual acrimony between him and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, should begin to look in a different direction so that peace can reign in the interest of residents of Rivers State.”

Senator Arise equally dismissed insinuation that the Rivers electorate who were peeved over the stance of President Tinubu in the Rivers impasse would revolt with their votes in the next general elections.

The APC chieftain who recalled that the APC won 14 out of the 23 local government in Rivers State in the last presidential election expressed confidence that the ruling party would retain its feat going by its performance in the last local government election conducted in Rivers State.

He declared that Governor Fubara like his colleagues in the Niger Delta region, would align with the second-term aspiration of President Tinubu.

“Wike is still controlling the structures, the APC won in almost all the local government. Those ones, they will want to retain their jobs and they are the ones to do the job. They are closer to the grassroots, they are the local government chairmen and they will want to do things that will endear them to the people. So once he has that, he is already controlling the grassroots and that is what we will see.”