Samuel Marshall
Rivers State politics plunged deeper into crisis on Sunday, 28th September 2025, as both the State Legislature and all 23 Local Government Chairpersons boycotted the Independence Day Thanksgiving Service in Port Harcourt. The absence of the state’s entire political establishment – including members elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – was a stunning rebuke to Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who attended the service at St. Paul’s Cathedral with only a handful of supporters.
Fubara, visibly isolated, read a Bible passage but offered no speech. His rivals interpreted his presence as a symbolic attempt to project legitimacy after months of turmoil-an attempt they flatly rejected.
Observers say the boycott was coordinated by the camp loyal to the former governor and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike. His allies reportedly staged the snub in protest at Fubara’s recent dissolution of the State Pensions Board, a move that swept aside appointees of the previous administration.
The protest was not a one-off. It followed a string of absences by the same bloc from state functions – airport reception, Jumu’at prayers, family thanksgiving – now culminating in a dramatic Independence Day boycott.
The crisis, rooted in a bitter standoff between Fubara and the State House of Assembly, threatens to unravel the fragile peace that persuaded President Bola Tinubu to lift Rivers’ emergency rule earlier this year.
Now, the questions are urgent:
Will Fubara press on with executive decrees to bypass hostile lawmakers?
Or will Rivers State face yet another impeachment showdown?
For now, one certainty remains: unity has given way to open rebellion in the oil-rich state.***
