President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday held a closed-door meeting with the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd), at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The session, which lasted over two hours, comes just days before the emergency rule in the state expires.

The six-month emergency period, declared on March 18 in response to the prolonged political crisis in Rivers, is due to end on September 18.

In his nationwide broadcast at the time, Tinubu suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and all members of the State House of Assembly for six months, citing Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution as the legal basis for the action.

He subsequently appointed Ibas, a former Chief of Naval Staff, as Sole Administrator with the mandate to restore stability and prevent a breakdown of governance in the oil-rich state.

Although details of Wednesday’s meeting were not made public, sources within the Presidential Villa revealed that discussions centred on transition plans, security assessments, and possible handover arrangements as the emergency rule winds down.