The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the emergency rule declared by President Bola Tinubu in Rivers State earlier this year.
Justice James Omotosho, delivering judgment on Thursday, ruled that the case brought by Belema Briggs and four others lacked merit as the plaintiffs did not have the legal standing to challenge the presidential decision.
In March 2025, Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State following political and security tensions. The decision led to the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for six months. A sole administrator was appointed to oversee the state’s affairs during this period.
The plaintiffs, dissatisfied with this intervention, approached the court to nullify the decision. However, Justice Omotosho stated that the claim of fundamental rights infringement by the president “did not hold water” since the Constitution grants the president the authority to impose emergency rule when law and order is at risk.
He emphasized that the plaintiffs were neither members of the Rivers State Executive Council nor the House of Assembly, nor had they demonstrated any personal injury greater than what the general public suffered. The judge also noted that they had not obtained the consent of the state’s Attorney General to file the case.
“The assertion that President Tinubu acted to prevent a breakdown of law and order was not contested or disproven by the plaintiffs,” Justice Omotosho declared, describing the case as “frivolous and baseless.”
Meanwhile, on September 18, 2025, Tinubu officially lifted the emergency rule, noting that more than 40 lawsuits had been filed against the decision, with the most prominent being that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Supreme Court.
okay.ng reports that the ruling further strengthens the president’s constitutional stance on the controversial Rivers intervention.
