By Kingstong Magare
Suspended Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara will likely return to his post on September 18, 2025, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike, has said.
Fubara was suspended in the heat of the political stalemate in Rivers by President Bola Tinubu. Fubara has since reconciled with Wike who was believed to be the orchestrator of the crisis in the State.
Speaking Saturday after casting his vote in the Rivers State local government elections Wike said: “As far as we are concerned, this election is peaceful, people are trooping out and at the end of the day the election has been conducted successfully and peacefully.
“I do know that by September 18, the state of emergency will expire, and the state assembly will come back to their job and we will have a government at the grassroots level.”
“The coast is clear for the state of emergency to be lifted, being that the state government has its representative and the local government has its representatives, so we are good to go.”
After casting his ballot, the minister hailed the conduct of the exercise, described it as peaceful and also dismissed concerns over the non-usage of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the election.
“I am very happy. It means that people identify with the election,” Wike, who was surrounded by supporters and his media aide, Lere Olayinka, said after voting, dismissing concerns about voter apathy.
“You have not heard of any violence. You have not heard of carrying ballot boxes. You see that the electoral materials are there. People are there casting their votes. As far as we are concerned, the election is very peaceful.”
Fubara, Tinubu and Wike...no permanent agreement?