Yesterday, August 18, 2025, marked exactly five months since President Bola Tinubu declared a State of Emergency in Rivers State and suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his Deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu, and the state Assembly members for six months over an unabated political crisis.

This entails that the suspension of the democratic institutions has just one month to expire. Sequel to this, residents and keen political observers have urged the President to ensure that Fubara and others are reinstated on September 18, 2025.

The residents, including lawyers and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), warned that the proposed conduct of the local council elections should not be used as an excuse to extend the emergency rule.

Speaking, a keen political watcher and an indigene of Rivers State, Sunny Dada, said: “Our expectation is simple; the President should restore the democratic order. What we have witnessed in the last five months of the emergency regime is a frontal assault against democratic institutions.

“So, all eyes are on him (Tinubu), and the minimum we are expecting from him is to restore democratic institutions with an apology to Rivers people and Nigerians whose sensibilities were assaulted, our identity was abused, our dignity was degraded.”

Dada further cautioned that the proposed local council elections should not be conducted under the emergency regime or used as an excuse to extend the time, but the President should allow democratic institutions to conduct the polls.

MEANWHILE, the National Patriotic Front (NPF) has hailed the Sole Administrator, Rear Admiral Ibot-Ete Ekwe Ibas (Rtd), for what it described as “bold and transformative steps” in stabilising the state under emergency rule.

In a statement issued in Port Harcourt and signed by its President, Marcus Dakas, the group said Ibas had demonstrated uncommon leadership in guiding Rivers through one of its most delicate phases in recent history.

“The National Patriotic Front salutes the courage, clarity and sense of duty that Ibas has brought to Rivers State. What many thought would be a lost period of drift has become, under his watch, a season of renewal and a rebirth of confidence in governance. His interventions in security, infrastructure and preparations for democratic transition deserve recognition from all Nigerians,” Dakas said.