From the unprecedented declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State to the sweeping defections that dismantled the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) long dominance in the oil-rich region, the South-South became the epicentre of Nigeria’s most consequential political developments.
Introduction
For nearly 25 years after the return to civil rule in 1999, the South-south stood as the PDP’s most reliable electoral fortress. In 2025, that certainty collapsed.
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From Port Harcourt to Uyo, Yenagoa to Asaba, the year unfolded as one long political earthquake — marked by emergency rule, defections, deaths, protests, and uneasy recalibrations, leaving the states all slipped from the PDP’s grip through defections by sitting governors, effectively transferring political control of the region to the opposition.
Rivers emergency rule
No single event shook the South-south more than President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of emergency rule in the oil-rich Rivers State.
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The suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, and the entire Rivers House of Assembly, along with the appointment of a retired naval chief, Ibok-Ette Ibas, as sole administrator, stunned the nation, prompting protests from several bodies, including the Nigeria Bar Association.
The move followed months of a bitter political feud between Mr Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now minister of the FCT. The feud paralysed governance, split the assembly into two hostile camps, and triggered two failed impeachment attempts against Mr Fubara.
Although the emergency rule was later lifted after reported reconciliation efforts, the calm did not last. Mr Fubara’s eventual defection from the PDP to the APC underscored a harsh reality: in Rivers politics, survival had overtaken ideology.
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The collapse of a political fortress
What happened in Rivers was not isolated.
Across the South-south, 2025 marked the final collapse of the PDP’s long dominance. Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa — states once considered as the PDP strongholds — all slipped from the party’s control through defections by sitting governors.
Bayelsa’s shift was particularly symbolic. As the home state of former President Goodluck Jonathan, it had remained under the control of the PDP since its creation. Its fall marked the end of an era.
By the time Rivers joined the list, the region that once served as the PDP’s electoral backbone had effectively realigned, driven not by grassroots revolt, but by federal power calculations.
Akwa Ibom’s contradictions
Away from elite defections, Akwa Ibom embodied the region’s contradictions.
The state was again ranked Nigeria’s cleanest for the record eighth consecutive year, earning praise for its sanitation and urban management. Yet beneath the accolades, public anger simmered over dilapidated roads in Uyo, the state capital, and other parts of the state.
The death of a pregnant woman and her newborn at the General Hospital, Ikot Ekpene, sparked outrage, and petitions and demands for accountability soared, prompting the state government’s declaration of a state of emergency in the health sector.
Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom made a record in 2025 as the first governor in the South-south to be blacklisted for his repressive action against the media – Mr Eno had expelled the Channels Television crew from the Government House Uyo Press Corps for leaking a video in which the governor vowed to destabilise the PDP even as he was making plans to defect to the APC.
Bayelsa’s promises, Delta’s laws
In Bayelsa, the state government has made ambitious promises for industrial and power-generation development, including plans for round-the-clock electricity. Yet PREMIUM TIMES reported growing concerns about spending priorities, including elite medical tourism amid struggling local health facilities.
Also, within the year, PREMIUM TIMES reported the death of the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.
Delta State’s year was quieter but no less significant. Lawmakers passed security-focused legislation to curb cultism and violence, approved large infrastructure budgets, and deepened corporate engagement in the energy sector.
Cross River, Edo, and the weight of expectations
Cross River pursued international investment drives and hosted sporting events tied to the Niger Delta Games. Within the year, the state government drew a hard line in its education sector when the government shut down 69 unapproved schools, ending years of unchecked operations that officials said put children at risk.
The action followed inspections that exposed overcrowded classrooms, unqualified teachers, and unsafe learning environments, sparking concern among parents and proprietors alike.
READ ALSO: Two Rivers senators dump PDP, defect to APC
In Edo, security incidents — including killings that triggered public outrage — dominated headlines, prompting President Tinubu to order a manhunt for the killers.
A region at a crossroads
By the close of 2025, the South-south stood altered.
Emergency rule had tested constitutional limits. Defection waves hollowed out party ideology. Protests and petitions signalled thinning public patience.
The year left one unsettling question hanging over the oil-rich region: Is the South-south still shaping power — or merely reacting to it?
As Nigeria edges toward another election cycle, the answer may determine whether the region’s future is driven by its people or by perpetual political firefighting.
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