President Bola Ahmed Tinubu officially declared a state of emergency in Rivers State on Tuesday night.
TheNewsGuru reports that the President made the declaration during a nationwide broadcast.
“The state has been at a standstill since the crisis started,” Tinubu said.
The President said that since the political crisis began in Rivers State, he had made a personal intervention to resolve it, but his efforts proved abortive.
The President then appointed a retired military chief, Ekwe Ibas, to oversee the state’s affairs immediately after declaring a state of emergency.
The development comes amid escalating violence between former Governor Nyesom Wike and the current Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, as the two continue their protracted political feud.
Wike, now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, has reportedly been attempting to unseat Fubara, intensifying the political tensions in the state.
Following the unrest, two major petrol pipelines in the state were sabotaged by suspected militants.
In a bid to restore order in the oil-rich state, the federal government took the drastic measures to curb the increasing violence and instability lingering in the state.