With 13 days left to the expiration of the six-month state of emergency imposed on Rivers State, the Administrator, Ibok-Ete Ibas, is rounding off his assignment and preparing for exit.

Waiting to resume are suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Nma Odu and members of the state House of Assembly.

There had been fears in the state that Ibas, a retired Vice Admiral, might be pushing for an extension of the state of emergency.

But sources at Government House Port Harcourt said there was nothing of the sort.

Ibas himself said last weekend that with the just concluded local government election, there was a sign that the state was ready for the resumption of full democratic rule as obtains in the rest of the country.

“Certainly, all indigenes of Rivers State want and deserve grassroots leadership they can call their own. That is what this process represents,” Ibas said of the LG polls.

He added: “For me, facilitating this foundational tier of democracy is a core objective of my mandate: to put the state back on its stable, democratic path and to empower its people.”

He swore in all the elected chairmen soon after the announcement of the results.

His view was echoed by Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike, who said that the State was only a step from the lifting of the emergency rule, following the successful conduct of the local government elections.

Wike, the immediate past governor of the state, said that with the emergency rule due to expire on September 18, the suspended governor, deputy governor and state lawmakers “will come back to their jobs.”

On Wednesday, Ibas visited President Bola Tinubu in Abuja in what sources suggested was part of consultations on the next steps for the state.

A source at the Government House Port Harcourt told The Nation that “there is nothing to suggest any extension at all.”

residents of the state are convinced that certain steps being taken by the administrator, including the reconstruction of the State House of Assembly complex, are positive for the return of the suspended executive and legislative functionaries.

The complex was demolished by Fubara in the heat of his stand-off with the legislators.

During one of his visits to the site, Ibas described the project as strategic and appealed to the contractor to pursue its completion with urgency.

He said: “This project is of strategic importance and we must treat it as such. The people of Rivers State expect results.

“Any further delays will be unacceptable and all hands must be on deck to meet the agreed timeline”.

Ibas also recently inaugurated nine key boards in the state ahead of the conclusion of the emergency rule on September 18.

The boards inaugurated by the sole administrator were the Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board (RSUBEB), Rivers State Senior Secondary Schools Board (RSSSSB), Rivers State Internal Revenue Service Board (RSIRSB), Rivers State Microfinance Agency (RSMA), Rivers State, Contributory Health Protection Programme Board, Rivers State University Teaching Hospital Board and Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA).

Members of the Rivers Women Unite for SIM said they could not wait for the emergency rule to be over.

The women at their monthly prayer session in Port Harcourt prayed for mercy and peace to continue to prevail in the state, expressing faith in God to ensure the lifting of the emergency rule and restoration of the governor and the Assembly members.

They lamented that the people had endured the six months emergency rule, insisting that normalcy should be restored in the state.

The state chapter of the APC led by Chief Tony Okocha expressed enthusiasm that Fubara would return at the expiration of emergency rule on September 18, pledging that members of the APC would work with him.

He said: “On the 18th of September, the executive governor returns. It couldn’t have been a prophecy. Six months suspension will elapse on the 18th of September and so necessarily, even elementarily, there would be no vacuum.

“So it is clear that the Governor, who was suspended for reasons that you and I know, will return to office.

“We are going to co-operate with the Governor when he returns to office. But that co-operation will not take away our rights to criticise the Governor when he does the wrong thing.”

A chieftain of the PDP, Chief Ogbonna Nwuke, does not share the opinion of those who claim Fubara will return as a powerless governor.

He said: “Those opinions are simplistic and don’t add up. He is going to return to his seat as the governor of Rivers and governor who has constitutional roles to play.

“Beyond the local government elections, it is not cast in stone that the governor after a while cannot make his own appointments.

“He is not under any obligation to run from now till the end with the appointments others have made. These are mere speculations.

“As a Rivers person, I am looking forward to the return of a governor who will perform executive functions for Rivers people and whose responsibility to the people cannot be abridged by anyone.

“Many people are tired of the emergency rule and the turnout was evidence of a support for the governor. But peace has returned.

“Brothers have agreed to work together and the interest of Rivers surpasses that of individuals. And I think we will be able to find our foot in the interest of Rivers and our founding fathers going forward.”

The state of emergency was declared on March 18 by President Tinubu, following months of a running battle that pitted Fubara and his supporters against Wike and his supporters, including the majority of the state’s lawmakers.

Three months into the emergency rule, Tinubu convened a high-level peace meeting at the State House in Abuja, bringing together key actors in the conflict for a rare face-to-face dialogue.

At the closed-door meeting were Fubara, Wike, suspended Rivers Speaker Martins Amaewhule, and several other lawmakers embroiled in the dispute.

Wike confirmed later that the parties to the Rivers State dispute had settled their differences and machinery put in motion for the restoration of all suspended democratic activities and institutions. (The Nation)

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