Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has disclosed that the regime of the sole administrator in Rivers will end on September 18, 2025.

“By the 18th of September, the state of emergency will expire. That will mean that the State Governor and the State Assembly will come back to their job, and then we’ll have representatives at the grassroots level,” Mr Wike declared on Saturday after casting his vote in the ongoing council poll in Rivers State.

President Bola Tinubu had, in March, appointed Vice Admiral Ibok-Étè Ibas (Rtd.) as the sole administrator of the oil-rich state.

Mr Tinubu declared a ‘state of emergency’ in the state, suspending Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for an initial period of six months following a lingering power tussle between Mr Wike and Mr Fubara.

Speaking further after casting his vote at Polling Unit 007, Ward 9 (Rumuepirikom Kingdom), Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers, Mr Wike said all is getting set for the state of emergency rule to be lifted.

Commenting on the LG polls, he recalled that the Supreme Court had earlier nullified the previous election, stressing that failure to hold the exercise would have left Rivers without grassroots representation.

“Having done this, then the coast is clear for the state of emergency to be lifted, being that the local government has its own representative. The State Government has its own elected representatives. So we are good to go.

“Remember the Supreme Court has nullified the other election, and so if this election was not conducted, it will mean that there will be no representative at the grassroots level, which will not be accepted by the people of Rivers State,” he added.