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Fubara will have ‘zero’ powers after suspension – Tonye Cole
Tonye Cole, a prominent figure in the All Progressives Congress (APC), has stated that Siminalayi Fubara, who was suspended from his role as Governor of Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu, will have no control in the state once his suspension ends.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Cole expressed that Fubara would face significant challenges upon his return.
READ ALSO: Wike, Fubara missing at Rivers sole administrator farewell service
He explained that Fubara would be unable to govern independently without external interference.
Cole, who was an APC candidate for the 2023 governorship election, expressed concern over the situation in Rivers State, emphasizing its importance to Nigeria. He lamented that the state’s governor would be stripped of his full governing powers.
“We cannot be in a situation where we have an elected governor of a state, like Rivers State, which is a very critical state not just for the people of Rivers but Nigeria as a whole, and what you then see is that you have an elected governor that has zero powers. I don’t think it portends well at all,” Cole remarked.
He further elaborated on the difficulties ahead for Fubara, noting the political dynamics in Nigeria where outgoing governors typically support successors who continue their agendas.
“It’s extremely difficult, and I think the governor will be finding himself in a very difficult situation. First of all, the way politics has played out in Nigeria, almost every situation is that a governor, in leaving office, looks for somebody who he believes can continue whatever agenda they had moving forward.
“But time and time again, we find out that where the new governor or whoever has come in as governor is left alone to run his administration, then things progress.
“However, when such doesn’t happen…almost always we have ended up in this whole godfather-godson fight, and it’s never been good for democracy.
“Everywhere that fight has occurred, the people have tended to suffer a lot more. My prayer is that as we come back, because we don’t know what we’re going to see starting from tomorrow, the one thing that we are sure about is that the governor is not in a position to make any decisions,” he added.
Cole advised Fubara to negotiate with the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, to establish a working arrangement that would allow him to exercise some gubernatorial powers.
“What I would do if I were him would be to now sit down with the honourable minister and appeal for some leeway to allow certain decisions to be taken by me as governor, and others to be taken by him, whatever peace agreement they had.
“The truth is that we do not know the details of that peace agreement, so I cannot tell the extent or the limits of the powers that he has now.”
The political tension between Fubara and the leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Martin Amaewhule, prompted President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State on March 18, 2025. The president suspended the governor, his deputy, and the House of Assembly members for an initial period of six months.
Invoking Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, Tinubu justified his intervention by citing the escalating political crisis in the state.
Following this, Vice Admiral Ibok-ete Ibas (rtd), a retired naval officer, was appointed and sworn in as the sole administrator of the oil-rich Niger Delta state
The conflict between Fubara and his predecessor, Wike, centered on control over the state’s political machinery.
In June, President Tinubu convened a meeting with Fubara, Wike, Amaewhule, and other assembly members, signaling a move toward reconciliation among the key stakeholders.
Fubara is scheduled to resume his duties on Thursday, September 18, 2025, after the six-month suspension period concludes.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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