A legal advocacy group, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) Lawyers, has defended President Bola Tinubu’s recent declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, describing it as a “constitutional, courageous, and genius leadership decision.”

The group’s National Convener, Mrs. Abibat Bankole-Apena, disclosed this in her reaction to the Rivers State state of emergency, stating that the president acted within the confines of the law. She cited Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which empowers the president to declare a state of emergency in situations of an “actual breakdown of public order and public safety” or a “clear and present danger” that threatens national security.

President Tinubu declared the emergency on March 18, 2025, suspending Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, and all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for six months.

He, however, appointed Retired Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas to oversee the state’s affairs.

The move, which was a sequel to the prolonged political crisis in the state, escalated into violent incidents, including pipeline explosions in Gokana and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Areas, leading to economic losses of over $35 million daily.

The BAT Lawyers argued that the president had exhausted all mediation efforts to resolve the crisis before resorting to emergency measures.

The group emphasised that no responsible President of a sovereign nation will cross legs and allow government properties to be destroyed deliberately, causing economic sabotage to a country that is just wriggling out of inflation, without taking firm steps to nip further disastrous actions in the bud.

The legal group further cited past precedents, recalling that former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan had declared similar emergency measures in Plateau (2004), Ekiti (2006), and Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States (2013). These instances, they argued, reaffirm the constitutionality of Tinubu’s action.

Also speaking, the national secretary of the group, Femi Ishola, dismissed criticisms from political analysts and social media commentators questioning the legality of the president’s decision, maintaining that the declaration was a courageous, impartial, and ingenious move by President Tinubu to protect national and state assets, to force all warring parties to sheath their swords, to restore law and order, and to ensure a peaceful Rivers State to the benefit of the Rivers people and Nigerians at large.

He added, “We firmly posit that, pursuant to the failed several mediation measures employed by the President in the recent past in order to resolve the prolonged political crisis in Rivers State, the flagrant disregard for the Supreme Court judgment by Governor Fubara, the political precedence of the declaration of a state of emergency, the threats and actualisation of threats carried out by the Niger Delta Militant Group in Rivers State, and the satisfaction of the constitutional provision required to declare a state of emergency, His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR has acted within the bounds of the law.

“The declaration was a courageous, impartial, and ingenious move by President Tinubu to protect national and state assets, to force all warring parties to sheath their swords, to restore law and order, and to ensure a peaceful Rivers State to the benefit of the Rivers people and Nigerians at large.”