President Bola Ahmed Tinubu aide, Nyesom Wike who is the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT and the immediate past Governor of Rivers State that is widely believed to be the apparent root cause of the political crisis in the state – who, shortly after the swearing-in of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Wike helped to the seat of power, was accused by the sitting Governor, Siminalayi Fubara of trying to use the State House of Assembly to frustrate and impeach him from office, simply because, he, Fubara refused to accept certain terms and conditions they both had in private, which, till now, both refused to tell the public the apparent personal political misunderstandings that made the Governor, Fubara to resort to self defence by thus applying some measures within his powers as the Governor to frustrate and stop his impeachment from the probably instigated Rivers State House of Assembly lawmakers whose majority of them, up to 27 members are seemly loyal to the FCT Minister, who – Wike, a few days ago, was the person that announced through the media to the general public that if an Ijaw son, Siminalayi Fubara is impeached, nothing would happened, a statement he made, suggesting he may have conspired with the lawmakers to impeach the governor; because by his statements during the press conference, he was probably already doing damage control even when the House of Assembly has not served the governor – an impeachment notice, but, in the face of the foregoing facts, the Nigeria Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi at a press briefing a few hours ago at the State House in Abuja, exonerated the FCT MInister and said categorically that the FCT Minister has no hand in the political crisis that has engulfed the oil rich Rivers State, leading to militants bombing crude oil pipelines to destroy Nigeria economy probably as a way of protesting against the Federal Government seemly one sided style of handling misunderstandings in the state.

Detailed statements of the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation as transcribed and reported by Channels Television, are presented verbatim below:

“At a media chat with State House correspondent in Abuja, the AGF said President Bola Tinubu acted timely with his proclamation of emergency rule in Rivers State, the suspension of the governor, and the appointment of a sole administration, Vice Admiral Ibok-ete Ibas (retired).

Fagbemi said Fubara demolished the State House of Assembly Complex to avoid being impeached and refused to rebuild it more than one year later.

The justice minister said Fubara failed to implement the February 28, 2025 ruling of the Supreme Court and did not caution militants who had threatened to blow pipelines in the state. “There was not a word dissuading the militant who issued the threats,” he said.

He said the situation could be allowed to continue as the critical economic lifeline of the nation was criminally touched.

Fagbemi also said the emergency rule declaration was some sort of saving grace for Fubara who has been served impeachment notice.

“If that impeachment had been allowed to take its full course, the governor would have entirely lost and completely.

“So, in a way, instead of allowing the impeachment to continue, and which in the end would have seen both the governor and the deputy governor out of office for the entirety of their four-year term with the remainder of what they have — a balance of two years and two months,” the AGF said.

Fagbemi said the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, did not feature in the matter that was decided by the Supreme Court and should not be sentimentally brought into it.

Wike, the immediate-past governor of Rivers State, has been locked in a protracted power tussle with Fubara, his estranged former political godson, for about two years. The apex court had backed the pro-Wike Assembly led by Martins Amaewhule.

Fagbemi said Wike should not be brought into the matter as he was not responsible for the actions of Fubara who failed to act in line with the constitutional requirements of getting the approval of the state legislators in the affairs of running the state.

He said, “There are occasions when it comes to national issues, we have to come out plainly and sincerely. Where do you put the Minister of the FCT in this case? Was he the one who asked for the demolition of the House of Assembly?

“Was he the one who said the governor should not present the budget to the House of Assembly? Was he the one who advised the governor not to go through the House of Assembly for purposes of ratifying the commissioner-nominees?

“I don’t know because if you want to look at a case, you look at the facts that have been presented. The Supreme Court made these critical findings. The FCT minister did not feature.

“Assuming he featured, he would have featured on the side of the legislators but what you have here is let everybody go home for the first six months. So, I don’t see his hands here in what we have.”

Fagbemi advised all those who do not agree with the president’s move to channel their energy to the National Assembly to veto the president’s decision”.

We had reported that two female lawmakers, Marie Ebikake, PDP, Bayelsa State and Blessing Amadi, PDP, Rivers State on Wednesday engaged in a heated argument almost leading to a fight at the National Assembly ahead of the plenary session scheduled by the National Assembly leadership to discuss – approve or reject the Proclamation of State of Emergency declared on Tuesday night by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the apparent personal political crisis between the state Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and Tinubu’s aid, Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister and the immediate past Governor of the South South State.

We had reported that the former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, both of whom were co contestants as presidential candidates in the last presidential election in Nigeria have reacted to the state of emergency and suspension of elected government in Rivers State by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with Atiku accusing and describing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a vested partisan actor in the political turmoil engulfing Rivers State.

We had reported that the Nigeria President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday evening, for the first time more than a decade in the history of the West Africa country, declared a state of emergency in Rivers State and suspended for initial six months, the Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and his Deputy, Ngozi Odu, all elected members of the State House of Assembly, and appointed retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas as Administrator to work with the existing laws of Rivers State with the members of the state Judiciary following the apparent personal political crisis between the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and his former boss and the immediate past Governor of the state, Nyesom Wike who is currently the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT that was seen a few days ago in a viral video apparently making carless statements as a government official – statements capable of instigating a particular ethnic group against the government wherein the FCT Minister has said thus, that, Ijaw people are minority group in the South South and if their son, Fubara is impeached, nothing would happened, after the statements, Wike refused to apologize to the Ijaw people despite public outcry and condemnations, days after as confirmed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, some militants started destroying crude oil pipelines in Rivers State as media reports trends and indicated that Pro-Wike lawmakers may have concluded plans to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara.