Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his family members are being held hostage at the Government House, Port-Harcourt, by a contingent of heavily armed soldiers Tuesday night, Peoples Gazette has learnt.

The development comes moments after President Bola Tinubu invoked Section 180 of the Nigerian Constitution to proclaim a state of emergency in Rivers. The Nigerian leader based his controversial move on a prolonged and rapidly escalating political feud led by state lawmakers loyal to Nyesom Wike, who commenced impeachment proceedings against Mr Fubara last week to settle scores in his fallout with Mr Wike, who engineered Mr Fubara’s election in 2023 despite corruption charges.

Rivers government sources told The Gazette that soldiers carrying out the president’s instructions on declaring the state of emergency barricaded all entrances and exits to the government house immediately after the president’s speech.

Attempts by Mr Fubara and his family to pack their belongings out of the Government House have been rebuffed by the soldiers, who suppressed all movements around the premises.

“We are being held hostage,” an affected official told The Gazette from the scene on Tuesday night. “They said they don’t have instruction to let anyone leave the premises.”

It was unclear whether the soldiers implemented their duties as instructed or were overzealous in following specific orders.

Spokespersons for the Nigerian Army and Defence Headquarters did not immediately return requests seeking comments about the soldiers’ treatment of the Fubaras.

Mr Tinubu’s declaration to suspend the feuding parties from office for six months, effective Tuesday,  sparked furious debates across social media as netizens argued whether the president had constitutional grounds to suspend an elected governor whom the state lawmakers have not yet impeached. Efforts to impeach Mr Fubara began on Monday, barely 24 hours before Mr Tinubu imposed an emergency ordinance. 

Lawyers like Inibehe Effiong and Folarin ‘Falz’ Falana have excoriated the president for taking the law into his own hands without regard for the Constitution’s position.

The president named the retired chief of naval staff, Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, as the military administrator in Rivers in the interim.