- Say hosting suspended legislators in United Kingdom dangerous
- Urge President Tinubu to check dimension, want meeting probed
- Court stops Ibas from appointing LGA administrators
Nigerians have expressed concerns over the alleged silence of President Bola Tinubu on the roles being played by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, in the political and security crises rocking Rivers State.
They described the Minister’s hosting of the suspended Rivers assembly lawmakers in the United Kingdom on Monday as a dangerous dimension that needed to be checked.
Though the minister’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, in a post on X.com on Tuesday said the lawmakers, were in the UK for “legislative capacity building” before Wike hosted them to a dinner, analysts who spoke to THE POINT exclusively, demanded for investigation of the meeting.
Olayinka had said, “Yesterday (Monday), the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, hosted Rivers State House of Assembly members who are in the United Kingdom for Legislative Capacity Building, to a dinner.
“Wike left Nigeria on Sunday night after visiting his political friends and associates in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.”
The suspended Rivers lawmakers, led by the Speaker, Martins Amaewhule, departed Nigeria for a tour in the United Kingdom.
Amaewhule was said to have declared open the 10th Rivers Assembly Legislative Tour of the United Kingdom on Friday.
He claimed that the legislative tour would allow the House to learn new things outside the shores of Nigeria, which would improve the capacity of members for the tasks ahead.
Recall that on March 18, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State and suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor, Prof Ngozi Odu and members of the state House of Assembly.
He also appointed a former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.), as sole administrator for an initial period of six months.
The development came amid the political crisis in the state stemming from the power struggle between Fubara and his predecessor, Wike.
Reacting, a public affairs analyst, Dr Oluyemi Omotosho-Junior said Wike and the suspended lawmakers needed to be quizzed on the foreign trip and who bankrolled it.
He said, “The House of Assembly was suspended. In the first instance, the suspension of the House of Assembly was illegal. The President has no power to suspend the House of Assembly or any elected representatives of this democracy. But you know, this is Nigeria where anything can happen, he has done it and he has perpetrated illegality. We expect politicians to have gone to court to challenge it. The freedom of movement of the suspended legislature was not banned, they can move around, what is a bit worrisome is that why 27 lawmakers should leave the country at a time when there is a serious political logjam in their state, and they are behaving as if nothing is happening.
“I think this period should have been used to dialogue together and find solutions to the problem in their state that led to the illegal suspension of the lawmakers and even the Governor himself and then the declaration of the state of emergency,” he added.
Asking Nigerians to inquire from the FCT Minister on whose authority he hosted the suspended lawmakers abroad, Omotosho-Junior noted that, “The question to ask is, who is funding this trip? Since they are on suspension, where are they getting money to travel? If it is their personal money, fine. But, if it is the state money, that needs to be accounted for and needs to be explained why. That could be illegal. You will recall that the distinguished suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan traveled after her suspension to the IPU, and she came back and said all bills were borne personally by her. I hope this will be the case.”
“Again, in a state that is in a state of emergency, I am surprised if the President could grant approval to the FCT Minister to go and be addressing suspended people outside the country. That kind of meeting can be used to cause dissident action against the country. What are they discussing in the UK that they cannot discuss in Nigeria? They said they want to do some training? At a time they were suspended? Other questions we should be asking are who gave the approval and from where are they getting the money?
“Is it not even time for them to sit down and mutually find a solution to the problem facing Rivers State? How will the President feel if he hears that the suspended governor traveled outside the country and met dissident people? This can affect the security situation in the country and I am surprised Nyesom Wike was given the approval to go and declare such a meeting open in faraway United Kingdom.
“This development is called for questioning and Nigerians should ask them questions on why this thing should happen at this particular time. This is a period of sober reflection for them to meet and dialogue and find solutions to the problem in their state so that the state of emergency imposed can be lifted. This is what they should do rather than gallivanting all over the country. This is impunity on the part of the FCT Minister and it shows no one is controlling him,” he further stated.
An activist, Dr. Bright Oniovokukor, said, “All that happened in Rivers was orchestrated by the FCT Minister, not even the suspended lawmakers,” adding that “Since they are suspended, they may not be seen as House of Assembly members again but they may be seen as allies of Wike.”
“And we also know that in the suspension of the governor, the hand of Wike is there and whatever that will still happen, it is going to be him. After all said and done, he will still be meeting with his caucus to know the way forward, especially as it regards the cases in court over the state of emergency.
“We have condemned the state of emergency in Rivers but we cannot stop Wike from meeting with his allies. It is only when they are meeting under the recognised name of House of Assembly, it will now cause for concerns but, ordinarily, as Nigerians that they are, we may not be able to stop them from meeting but if whatever they are discussing will not bring peace and tranquility to Rivers, that will be condemned in all its entirety,” he noted.
Tamnala Bright, a former Youth President in Okrika local government of Rivers State, accused the former Rivers Governor of using the suspended legislators to actualise his agenda in the state, claiming that Wike would “dump the lawmakers once he gets what he is looking for.”
According to the Coordinator of Youth Awareness Project, a Civil Society Organisation in the state, “Rivers State has been peaceful and calm since the emergence of Sim Fubara. Everything that happened was not done by the House of Assembly; it was orchestrated by the FCT Minister.
“The fact that the FCT Minister had hosted the suspended lawmakers is not shocking to us the residents of Rivers State; the reason is that the FCT Minister has to use people to actualise what he is looking for and the Assembly members are the available tools. He wanted to use the local government chairmen but that didn’t work out because his tenure expired and he used everything but since that didn’t work out, he knew that the only opportunity was to use the Assembly members. It is shocking to us that people who are no longer members of the House of Assembly had to go through the backdoor and then the Supreme Court had to bring them in through the backdoor.
“He wants to use the lawmakers to actualise his aim and when he is done, he will definitely dump them.”
There was a reported fresh plot to frame the suspended governor of Rivers State and his chief of staff with the burning of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Four men who were arrested and taken to Abuja and released at the moment the auditorium was burnt in 2023 have stepped out to say there is fresh plot to rearrest them.
Worse, they say there is pressure on them to mention Governor Fubara and his chief of staff, Edison Ehie.
In what looks like a shocking new development, the four individuals have come forward with explosive allegations.
The individuals claimed that they were illegally detained and subjected to torture during their time in custody.
They also revealed a fresh plot to falsely implicate Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to the suspended Rivers State Government, in the infamous fire of October 2023.
The individuals – Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, Oladele Lukman, and MacPherson Olumini, came forward, at a press briefing which held on Monday in Port Harcourt, narrating that a few days ago, one of them was called by a man (name withheld) he said is a PDP leader in Obio/Akpor, and asked to come and meet with one of their leaders.
“Upon further prodding he said they were reaching out to us to persuade us to rewrite our story in order to implicate Ehie as the sponsor or mastermind of the fire incident at the Assembly complex as a follow up to former Head of Service, George Nwaeke’s press briefing in Abuja,” they said.
This they said has prompted them to speak out, as they do not want to be part of any nefarious act especially after the torture they had previously faced, and endured in the hands of alleged security agencies and suspected political actors during their detention in connection with the Assembly complex inferno.
Detailing their ordeal, Chime Ezebalike said between December 5, 2023 and January 16, 2024, they were individually and collectively subjected to arrest, intimidation, physical assault, and psychological torture.
They claimed their offence was because they refused to frame individuals like the Chief of Staff to the suspended Rivers State Government as masterminds of the Rivers State House of Assembly inferno.
At the press briefing, Ezebalike alleged that at some point, they were offered bribes in exchange for their freedom, even though it was clear they had committed no offence that warranted their arrest and detention.
“Three of us, Chime, Kenneth, and Oladele are known associates of Edison and Sokari Goodboy, while MacPherson was an unfortunate victim of mere proximity,” Ezebalike revealed.
Speaking further, Ezebalike explained that: “Our ordeal began with the arbitrary arrest of Oladele Lukman on December 5, 2023. On December 16, Chime and MacPherson were violently apprehended at Ogbakiri Junction along the East-West Road while returning from a funeral in Ahoada. On January 5, 2024, Kenneth Kpasa was forcefully taken in GRA, Port Harcourt, by a convoy of no fewer than three Hilux vans.
“We were blindfolded and taken to the Federal-Intelligence Response Team (F-IRT) unit along the Eastern Bypass in Port Harcourt, under the false pretense that the vehicle we were travelling in was stolen. It was later revealed that this was a ruse intended to force us into implicating Ehie in three serious allegations – the murder of Bako Angbashim, an assassination attempt on Martins Amaewhule, and the burning of the Rivers State House of Assembly complex.”
The individuals claimed that during their detention, some named persons one of them a former Chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area and another a suspended Rivers State House of Assembly member, played significant roles in the bribe offer, which allegedly included a sum of ₦200 million and promises of a trip to Ghana for them and their families.
“In a particularly distressing moment, the member of the Rivers State House of Assembly and an ally of a powerful minister arrived in the company of a uniformed officer and personally pressured us to implicate the Chief of Staff. When we resisted and refused, they resorted to beatings, starvation, and psychological torture.
“Days later, both the House of Assembly member and the former LGA boss returned. We were offered money, alongside promises of a fully paid trip to Ghana or any country of our choice with our families, in exchange for implicating Edison Ehie. We rejected it all,” Ezebalike narrated.
He said they were later forcibly transferred to Abuja by road, where they continued to face harsh conditions. Despite enduring months of torture, they said they maintained their innocence throughout. The charges against them were eventually dropped in November 2024, but they said the ordeal has left deep scars.
The detainees are calling for a thorough investigation into the alleged abuses and coercion, urging civil society organizations, the media and justice-loving Nigerians to stand with them, and help expose the broader political machinations at play.
They are also demanding accountability from those responsible for their unlawful detention and torture.
“This country is bigger than any one of us and all of us deserve to live in a country where no one is oppressed,” they stressed.
Court stops Ibas from appointing LGA administrators
A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has restrained the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd), from appointing sole administrators or their equivalents to oversee the 23 local government areas in the state.
Justice Adamu Turaki Mohammed granted the order in Suit No. FHC/PH/CS/46/2025, filed by the PILEX Centre for Civic Education Initiative, led by Courage Msirimovu, against the Sole Administrator in his official capacity.
The court noted that the motion ex parte, filed on March 28, 2025, sought several reliefs, including an interim injunction restraining the respondent and his agents from making such appointments. The applicant also requested any further orders the court deemed necessary.
Justice Mohammed, after reviewing the motion, ruled in favor of the applicant and fixed April 14, 2025, for the hearing of the substantive matter.
The leadership crisis in Rivers State stems from the expiration of the tenure of elected local government chairmen in June 2023. These chairmen, originally elected under former Governor Nyesom Wike, claimed an extension of tenure granted by 27 defected state lawmakers loyal to Wike.
Upon taking office, Governor Siminalayi Fubara dissolved the councils and appointed caretaker chairmen, sparking a fierce political tussle between his camp and Wike’s loyalists. Control of local governments has become a central battleground for dominance over the state’s political structure.
Despite ongoing tensions, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission conducted local government elections on October 5, 2024. However, the faction of the All Progressives Congress loyal to Wike, led by Tony Okocha, challenged RSIEC’s actions in court.
The legal battle ended at the Supreme Court on February 28, 2025, with a judgment favoring the Wike-backed APC faction. In response, Governor Fubara removed the chairmen installed through the nullified election and directed the heads of local council administration to assume interim leadership pending new elections.
This decision was strongly opposed by the APC and the group of defected lawmakers led by Martin Amaewhule. They accused the governor’s camp of targeting RSIEC officials and attempting to bypass constitutional procedures.
Fubara’s supporters claim that the Sole Administrator was moving to unconstitutionally appoint administrators to run the LGAs—an act the court has now barred.