The suspended Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has reached out afresh to his estranged godfather, Nyesom Wike, as part of ongoing effort to patch up their soured relationship.
Fubara is understood to have visited the Federal Capital Territory Minister in his Abuja residence on Monday for peace talks.
Details of their discussion were not immediately available, but the meeting came amid fresh calls from some quarters for the reinstatement of the suspended governor.
Some of Fubara’s supporters had even hoped that President Bola Tinubu would lift the governor’s suspension and terminate the emergency rule in the state during his Democracy Day speech at the National Assembly on Thursday.
One of them, Senator Seriake Dickson, expressed disappointment that President Tinubu did not declare an end to the Rivers State emergency rule on Thursday. He likened the current administration in Rivers to a military government because it is headed by a retired military officer.
But Dickson’s statement yesterday drew a sharp response from the Rivers State caucus in the National Assembly.
The legislators questioned the rights of the former Bayelsa State governor to speak on the emergency rule, saying that the state’s Administrator is a retired military officer.
Leader of the caucus, Kingsley Chinda, told reporters that the emergency rule was clearly a matter of necessity aimed at restoring law and order in the state.
He said this was attested to by the suspended governor who recently thanked the President for declaring the state of emergency
They accused Dickson of deceiving Fubara to make continuous mistakes that allegedly got him suspended.
Chinda asked the Senate Committee on Ethics to immediately commence an investigation into what he called Dickson’s un-parliamentary utterances.
“Let it be categorically stated that Rivers State is not under military rule. The current Administrator of the state, Vice Admiral Retired Ibok-Ete Ibas, is a retired military officer, just as Senator Seriake Dickson is himself a retired Police Corporal, but a serving senator,” Chinda said.
“Both of them cannot be serving personnel of the Armed Forces. The implication of retirement is clear. Once an officer retires, he becomes a civilian, and any leadership role he occupies is subject to civilian laws, norms and democratic oversight.
“To label the current administration as military rule is therefore misleading and intellectually disingenuous.
“The declaration of the state of emergency in River State was a necessary constitutional intervention aimed at preserving peace, protecting lives and restoring institutional order.
“The decision was not taken lightly. It was prompted by the rising tide of political instability and executive rascality within the state.
“Also, the disregard for democratic institutions was one of the reasons why we had that declaration.
“This position was also affirmed by the Supreme Court judgment of February 28, 2025, wherein the Supreme Court clearly stated that there was indeed no government in the state the way it was being operated then.
“It is imperative to highlight that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, acted swiftly and decisively to prevent the escalation of violence and systemic breakdown that loomed over our beloved state. The bold step averted a full-blown crisis.
“Without that timely intervention, orchestrated chaos would have overwhelmed the mechanism of governance and civil society in the state.
“The state of emergency declared in Rivers State is not a breach of the constitution. Rather, it is a legitimate tool provided in section 305 of our constitution to restore sanity when democratic structures are under serious threat.
“In fact, only recently, the suspended governor himself, Governor Sim Fubara, publicly thanked Mr. President for saving the day when he declared the state of emergency in River State.
“Therefore, Senator Sereike Dickson, the retired Police Corporal, cannot cry more than the bereaved.
“It is extremely unfortunate that a former governor, a serving senator and a retired police corporal, who by virtue of his police training is supposed to maintain law and order, decided to make undemocratic utterances capable of causing a breakdown of law and order in River State, whilst indigenes of the state are still on the path of seeking for peace for us to ensure that we protect the lives of our people in this state.
“It is on record that Senator Dickson, in one of his numerous visits to the suspended governor, promoted ethnic bigotry and biases that misled the governor and ultimately led to his suspension.
“Senator Dickson is at it again. With the antecedent of Senator Dickson, we clearly hold that he is not qualified. He is grossly incompetent and unfit to claim to protect democracy.
“When he had the opportunity as a chief executive, his records are there. They speak for themselves.
“Consequently, the caucus questions Senator Seriake Dickson, the River State caucus, unequivocally and clearly sends a clear caution and warning to Senator Seriake Dickson to stay clear from inciting Rivers people into any form of violence or attempting to cause any breakdown of law and order in our state.
“He is from Bayelsa State. If he wants to cause problem or crisis anywhere, let him go back to his
“We will also call on the security agencies to put a tab on him and his actions, which are likely and capable of causing a breach of peace, particularly now that the state is working towards restoring peace amongst our citizens.”
Also speaking, Senator Orwell Onyesor said it was their collective decision to condemn the actions of Senator Dickson, adding that Bayelsa West where Dickson represents needs more of the activism he was exhibiting in Rivers matters
The Nation gathered that Fubara’s supporters called The Simplified Family had made elaborate preparation in expectation of his reinstatement by the President on Thursday.
Many of them were said to have watched the President’s session at the National Assembly on television, waiting eagerly for his pronouncement on Fubara which never came, although he later transmitted communication to the Senate seeking confirmation for some appointments made by Ibas.
President Tinubu in the letter sought confirmation for Ibas’ appointment of members of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RISIEC), Rivers State Primary Healthcare Board, Rivers State Civil Service Commission and Rivers State Local Government Civil Service Commission.
The letter was read on the floor of the Senate by Akpabio and was referred to the Ad-hoc Committee on Emergency Rule.
Dickson described the letter read by Akpabio as provocative and wondered why the Senate President could read what he described as an undemocratic document on Democracy Day.
Dickson later on that day delivered his Democracy Day address accusing President Tinubu of missing a golden opportunity to restore democratic rule in Rivers State.
He said that by not mentioning anything about Rivers in his address, Tinubu had displayed undemocratic tendencies.
But some people quickly replied Dickson and reminded him of how he allegedly led thugs to harass and beat up a judge and lawyers including a pregnant lawyer at the Federal High Court in Yenagoa over a case he was interested in.
A member of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Timi Agala-Omubo, criticised Dickson’s democracy day sanctimony and recalled how he failed to recognise minority opposition lawmakers in Bayelsa when he was the governor.
He accused Dickson of frustrating the inauguration of three members elected on opposition party platforms.
He wrote: “I admire Senator Henry Seriake Dickson for his dogged disposition to whatever course he believes in, and his courage to speak eloquently without fear.
“However; like most mortals if not all, he also has the two or many sides of man: probating and reprobating, blowing hot and cold depending on the circumstances when it favours him, and when it does not.
“I picked the above part of his video as he bemoans his minority status in the Senate as he claimed to have been ignored by the Senate President.
“The Senator Dickson today is not different from the Governor Dickson who prevented three Assembly members-elect from being inaugurated into the 5th Bayelsa State House of Assembly for several months for no other possible reason than that they were of the minority APGA, Labour, and ADC, and not of his ruling party, PDP.
“He is also not different from the Governor Dickson who in 2019 declared in public that he recognised only the 19 PDP members-elect into the 6th Assembly; and that the other four APC members-elect including myself were unknown to him, and unrecognised.”
Sources told The Nation that Fubara has failed to meet with the pro-Wike state legislators who were also suspended under the emergency rule.
A principal officer of the suspended House of Assembly said: “You’ll recall that he met with his predecessor and Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, who told him to meet with other aggrieved stakeholders.
“He met with President Tinubu after meeting with Wike. But since then till now, the suspended governor has not met with anybody.
“He recently went to see the President in Lagos, but that will not guarantee his coming back. Even if he comes back, remember that the National Assembly has not passed the Rivers Budget.
“This means that the House of Assembly will also come back and the National Assembly will return the budget to the state Assembly and the crisis will continue.
“As we speak, Fubara has not even met with those he himself called the three wise men. These men, OCJ Okocha, Sargent Awuse and Ferdinand Alabraba, were instrumental to his election.
“So, no reconciliation has taken place”.
A former Local Government Chairman of Emohua Local Government Area, Dr Chidi Lloyd, said there was nothing exciting about Fubara returning to office without reconciliation.
Lloyd said there has been no reconciliatory meeting between Fubara and the state legislators.
“What is the hullabaloo about his coming back? He has been told many times to go and make peace. Assuming he comes back, has the problem with the House Assembly been resolved?
“The lawmakers will throw him out because there is nothing like the Chief Judge setting up any panel. The Supreme Court has already itemised all his sins.
“I am bothered about governance in Rivers. Others have moved on. See what is happening in Enugu and Delta states. That is our priority.
“Fubara is playing the ostrich. Going to see the President and taking photograph, does it stop the problem?
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
