In a renewed push to resolve the lingering political disaster engulfing Rivers State, President Bola Tinubu hosted a tense however essential reconciliation assembly on Thursday evening on the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The late-night engagement introduced collectively central figures within the state’s months-long energy wrestle: FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, suspended Rivers Governor Siminalayi Fubara, embattled Speaker Martin Amaewhule, and 27 members of the fractured state Home of Meeting.
Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu’s particular adviser on info and technique, confirmed the gathering in a publish on X, emphasizing its purpose: peace.
“President Bola Tinubu hosted a reconciliation assembly on Thursday evening on the Presidential Villa in Abuja, bringing collectively all of the figures within the Rivers State political disaster,” Onanuga posted.
The political feud between Wike and his former protégé, Fubara, erupted publicly in 2023, escalating right into a full-blown institutional disaster.
It cut up the state meeting down the center and triggered violent protests, vandalism of the meeting complicated, and fears over the protection of strategic oil infrastructure.
As tensions boiled over, Tinubu declared a state of emergency in March 2025, suspending each Fubara and the legislators whereas appointing a sole administrator to supervise the state for an preliminary six-month interval.
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In an try to defuse the state of affairs, the president beforehand held behind-closed-door talks with Fubara in London and once more in Lagos earlier this month.
Thursday’s gathering seems to be a end result of these efforts — the primary time all events concerned within the disaster have been delivered to the identical desk below federal oversight.
Though no formal communique was launched instantly after the assembly, insiders describe the dialogue as “frank” and “constructive,” with Tinubu reportedly urgent for a path towards political normalization earlier than the emergency administration expires later this 12 months.
Analysts say Thursday’s talks might mark a turning level in one in every of Nigeria’s most economically essential — but politically unstable — states.
Nonetheless, a lot hinges on whether or not agreements made behind closed doorways translate into concrete legislative and govt cooperation on the bottom.
In the meantime, residents in Rivers proceed to await readability on their political future — and whether or not this newest diplomatic effort will yield actual, lasting peace.
