By Boma Nwuke
The soul of Rivers State is under siege. With the imposition of emergency rule and the suspension of Governor Siminilayi Fubara,on March 18,2025,one of Nigeria’s most strategic states finds itself not just in political turmoil, but in a moral crisis. What is playing out is not simply a legal maneuver, nor the familiar theatre of political rivalry, but a brazen assault on democracy and the will of a people.
Rivers State has never been a stranger to political storms. It has lived through decades of betrayals, alliances, and power struggles that have shaped its destiny. Yet this latest episode, the removal of a governor who many consider to have touched lives within so short a time, cuts deeper than any of the past storms.
The truth is stark: the imposition of emergency rule and the six-month suspension of Governor Fubara amount to nothing short of a rape of the soul of Rivers State.
The irony is painful. Rivers, the oil-rich heart of Nigeria, has been treated as a prize to be fought over by power brokers rather than a home to be nurtured. For too long, its people have watched as their commonwealth became fuel for political battles, their aspirations buried beneath the ambitions of politicians.
Enter Governor Sim Fubara—a man who seemed intent on rewriting that story. From the moment he assumed office, he projected a different tone: one of service, humility, and connection to ordinary people. His administration was not perfect, but it carried a resonance that reached the grassroots, especially those in forgotten hinterlands.
So the haunting question persists: was Governor Fubara suspended because he dared to do what others before him could not?
Within a short time in office, he began developing the core hinterlands—places long ignored despite being the lifeblood of the state. Roads once impassable began to take shape. Communities that had been voiceless for decades suddenly felt heard. The abandoned backwaters of Rivers were, for the first time in years, visible in government’s eyes.
Was he suspended because he made life easier and better for Rivers people in a way that embarrassed those who had governed before him? To many citizens, the relief was tangible. Welfare programs and infrastructural renewal provided a glimpse of what governance could look like if leadership was about people, not patronage.
Was he suspended because he prioritized security in a state too often described as volatile? His administration strengthened partnerships with security agencies and invested in safer communities. At a time when insecurity threatens national stability, this was no small feat.
Was he suspended because he invested in children—ensuring qualitative education for a generation that has too often been told to wait for tomorrow? Schools were rehabilitated, teachers retrained, and new investments were promised. To him, the future was not a vague promise, but a priority.
Was he suspended because he opened Rivers State to commerce and investment? Investors, long wary of instability, began to look again at Port Harcourt as a hub of business opportunity. The narrative was beginning to shift from Rivers as a conflict zone to Rivers as a center of growth.
These questions are not rhetorical. They point to a troubling reality—that Fubara’s suspension may have little to do with performance, and everything to do with politics.
Yet, in the midst of all this, Rivers people and democracy-loving Nigerians expected something different. They expected that Mr President and the National Assembly would temper the harshness of a six-month suspension, easing it to three months as a show of fairness.
But no—that was not the case. Instead, the directive was clear: Fubara must complete the full cycle of suspension. The disappointment was heavy, and the sense of betrayal profound.
Once again, the opponents of democracy are at play. They are heating up the political atmosphere with stories born of imagination: that the governor is not working for Mr President, that he may not be loyal, that he does not play to the gallery of entrenched interests.
These are not arguments of governance. They are the tired tricks of those who see loyalty to power as more important than loyalty to the people.
Meanwhile, Rivers people wait. They wait in patience and in pain, knowing that between September 17 and 18, 2025, their governor may be reinstated. They wait for the return of a man they elected, the leader they trusted, the servant they believed in.
The expectation is clear: that the will of the people will prevail. For anything less would be a desecration not just of Rivers State, but of Nigeria’s claim to democracy.
History has taught us that when you trample the will of a people, you do not merely suspend a governor—you suspend hope, you silence voices, you desecrate the soul of a state.
But Rivers people are not strangers to resilience. They have survived marginalization, environmental devastation, and economic exploitation. They have fought for their voice before, and they will fight again—peacefully, but firmly.
The real danger lies beyond Rivers. If the suspension of Fubara is allowed to stand unchallenged, it sets a dangerous precedent for Nigeria’s democracy. It signals that governors can be punished not for failure, but for daring to succeed in ways that rattle entrenched powers.
That precedent must not stand. For if it does, then no state is safe, and no mandate secure.
The fate of Rivers State today is a mirror for the nation. It forces us to ask: what kind of democracy do we practice, where the people’s choice can be so easily cast aside? What is the value of elections, if the mandate of the electorate is sacrificed at the altar of politics?
The answers are not comfortable. But they are necessary.
What is at stake is not merely the political career of Sim Fubara. What is at stake is the soul of democracy itself—the belief that government belongs to the people, not to those who wield power at the center.
And so, as the people of Rivers and Nigerians at large wait for September, the message must be clear: the suspension of Governor Fubara is not just an assault on one man, but on all of us who believe in democracy.
The world is watching. History is taking notes. And Rivers people are standing, unbroken, determined that their will,not the whims of power,will prevail.
