Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State on Thursday removed his two closest allies from the Rivers State Government.
One of the allies, Edison Ehie, was removed as the governor’s chief of staff.
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In a statement on Thursday by the governor’s spokesperson, Onwuka Nzeshi, Mr Fubara also removed Benibo Anabraba as the secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG).
The governor had appointed Mr Anabraba as the SSG in September last year. He had appointed Mr Ehie as his chief of staff in January 2024.
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Dagogo Wokoma has now replaced Mr Anabraba as the new SSG, while Sunny Ewule, a lawyer, has replaced Mr Ehie as the chief of staff.
“The new appointees will be sworn in at 2:00 p.m. today, Thursday, 26 February 2026,” the statement read in part.
“The swearing-in ceremony will take place at the Exco Chamber, Government House, Port Harcourt,” it added.
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Mr Fubara’s decision to remove the two top officials came shortly after President Bola Tinubu brokered another peace deal between the governor and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who is now the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It was Mr Tinubu’s fourth intervention in the protracted Rivers political crisis, which began in 2023.
The latest peace deal was brokered earlier this month following months of renewed political crisis in the oil-rich state, triggered by a feud between the governor and the FCT minister.
Observers believe the removal of the two officials may be another effort by Governor Fubara to comply with the terms of the latest peace deal.
Mr Ehie had resigned as the then factional speaker and member of the Rivers State House of Assembly in December 2023 during the intense feud between Messrs Fubara and Wike, to serve as the governor’s chief of staff.
Mr Ehie represented Ahoada-East Constituency 11 in the assembly at the time.
At the time, the politician and his faction – comprising only four Rivers lawmakers – were loyal to Governor Fubara.
Background
The protracted political crisis between Messrs Wike and Fubara, which has lingered since 2023 despite peace deals, was recently doused after President Tinubu intervened early this month.
Mr Wike, who confirmed the latest intervention by Mr Tinubu, expressed the hope that this would be the end of the political crisis in the state.
To implement the agreement, Mr Fubara dissolved the state executive council on 12 February, four days after Mr Tinubu’s intervention. But the governor has yet to send a fresh list of commissioner nominees to the state assembly for confirmation.
On its part, the Rivers State House of Assembly, on 19 February, withdrew its impeachment move against Governor Fubara and his deputy, Ngọzi Odu, a professor.
The relationship between Messrs Fubara and Wike first broke down a few months after the governor assumed office because of the struggle for control of the political structures in the south-southern state.
Before then, the FCT minister had influenced Mr Fubara’s emergence as governor in 2023.
The political crisis later resulted in the declaration of emergency rule in the state in 2025.
Mr Fubara, who was suspended by Mr Tinubu for six months alongside all elected officials in the state in March 2025, only returned to office in September of that year after the president declared an end to the emergency rule.
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