A Rivers State-based civic group, the Pilex Centre for Civic Education Initiative, has written an open letter to President Bola Tinubu calling for an immediate reversal of the emergency rule declared in the state.
In the open letter to the President, signed by its Executive Director, Courage Nsirimovu, the group also faulted a purported new regulation known as the Emergency Powers (Conduct of Local Government Council Elections and Local Government Election Tribunal Proceedings) Regulations, 2025, which allegedly empowers the state’s sole administrator to appoint the chairman and members of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).
Nsirimovu said such powers rest with the state’s legislative process and cannot be conferred through an emergency regulation.
The Presidency has not issued an official response to the claims in the open letter. But it followed an unverified, now viral, modified document of an Official Gazette Number 125, Lagos, dated July 22, 2025.
According to its contents, the regulation suspends Section 2(2) of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission Law No. 2 of 2018, transferring the power to appoint the RSIEC chairman and members to the state’s sole administrator.
It also purportedly empowers the administrator to determine petitions and litigations within what it calls the emergency area.
Neither the Presidency, the National Assembly, nor the Rivers State Government has confirmed the authenticity of this circulating document.
