![Afam Osigwe [PHOTO CREDIT: Afam Osigwe ]](https://i0.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2024/07/424581560_895617985897058_5751002825058008354_n-e1721634000990.jpg?fit=1280%2C802&ssl=1)
The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Afam Osigwe, has said the next NBA conference would be held in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, if President Bola Tinubu reverses the emergency rule imposed in the South-South state.
Mr Osigwe spoke on Thursday during the ongoing 2025 NBA annual general conference at the International Conference Centre in Enugu State, Nigeria’s South-east.
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From Rivers to Enugu
President Tinubu, on 18 March, declared a state of emergency in Rivers State.
Mr Tinubu also suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and all the House of Assembly members for an initial six months.
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He cited the attack on an oil pipeline and the protracted political crisis in the state caused by the feud between Governor Fubara and the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, as the reason for the emergency rule.
The president consequently appointed Ibok-Ete Ibas as the sole administrator of the state.
Many Nigerians and groups, including the NBA and PDP Governors Forum, had separately criticised Mr Tinubu for the declaration and suspension of the elected governor and lawmakers in violation of the Nigerian Constitution.
Consequently, the NBA later moved the conference, originally scheduled for Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to Enugu in Enugu State.
The group explained that the decision was in protest against the emergency rule in the southern state.
The conference kicked off in Enugu State on 25 August and would be wrapped up on 29 August.
Over 20,000 members of the NBA from across Nigeria were said to be attending the conference at the International Conference Centre in the South-eastern state.
‘No democratic rule, no conference’
During the ongoing conference on Thursday, Mr Osigwe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said the NBA would consider holding a similar conference in the South-south state on the condition that the suspension of Mr Fubara and all other elected officials was reversed.
“The next (NBA) conference will take place in Port-Harcourt (Rivers State),” the NBA president declared, amid applause from lawyers in the conference hall.
“But holding the conference at Port-Harcourt is with a condition that democratic institutions must be restored and subsist,” he said.
Reconciliation
President Tinubu, in June, brokered a fresh truce between Messrs Wike and Fubara as well as the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The politicians later separately confirmed the truce brokered by Mr Tinubu with Mr Wike saying both camps had reached an agreement to end the rift and work in unity.
On his part, Mr Fubara hailed the truce brokered by Mr Tinubu, explaining peace was needed for Rivers State to move forward.
A previous peace deal between the parties brokered by Mr Tinubu in 2023 later collapsed, which made the parties resume hostilities in Rivers State.
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Meanwhile, despite the fresh truce in June, Mr Tinubu has neither reversed the emergency rule nor reinstated Governor Fubara and other elected officials who were suspended.
The emergency rule was scheduled to last for an initial period of six months which would elapse by 18 September.
It is unclear if Mr Tinubu would reverse the emergency rule before its expiration or extend it.
Observers believe that Mr Tinubu will reverse the emergency rule only after the forthcoming local government election in Rivers State, billed to take place on 30 August.
