en she appeared on Arise News Night in which he said what he wanted in Rivers State was the outright removal of the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara but was saved by the president with the imposition of a state of emergency, Ann-Kio Briggs was miffed that Nigeria could be reduced to such a level that it is all about what the FCT Minister wants.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that President Bola Tinubu had on Marh 18, 2025 issued a proclamation imposing a state of emergency on Rivers State citing security concerns and alleged attacks on oil installations. He consequently suspended the governor, his deputy and members of the state House of Assembly and appointed retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas as sole administrator.
Faulting the reasons adduced by President Tinubu for foisting a state of emergency on the state, she accused him of misinformation about alleged pipeline explosions. She also wondered on what ground the suspended governor would beg Wike for forgiveness when he’s far from being the problem.
The septuagenarian activist said when she watched the two-hour incendiary media chat, she wondered when or whether the “turmoil” in Rivers would end.
Describing what is happening in Rivers as “horrifying”, she accused the sole administrator of the state, Ibok-Ete Ibas of coming to pour petrol on the so-called problem he was sent to solve by taking illegal actions to cure the illegalities of the emergency rule and his appointment.
According to Ann-Kio Briggs, “Well, I’ve tried to figure out and I’ve spoken to lawyers, and I’ve tried to find out under what circumstances the president could immediately just at the flick of his fingers actually give the FCT Minister what he wants on a platter of gold. That is to say that what he wanted was that the governor of Rivers State should be removed.
“So, it is all about what the FCT Minister wants, whether it is in Rivers State or whether it is in the National Assembly, whether it is in the courts, or whether it is in the Villa, it is really just what he wants; which really, as a grown-up human being, as a Rivers person, is frightening that we could find ourselves in a situation where we have a president that is likely to find himself in a situation where he will be reduced from being a president to actually being a president that is there at the whims and caprices of a minister or a governor, or anybody else, or maybe a member of the national assembly. Then, I believe that Nigeria as a whole is in trouble, not just Rivers State.
“What’s playing out politically in River State today is horrifying to us. But let no one think that it cannot happen to them because if it can happen to Rivers State, it can happen to any government, any Governor in Nigeria.
“And if you look at what’s happening all over the world, if you look at Ukraine, if you look at Europe, you look at what Trump is doing in his own country, democracy is in absolute shambles right now. It’s about people and their interpretation of democracy, and that’s not democracy. Democracy is about the people and what the people want and what the people say democracy is and not just what one person believes that democracy is. And if he doesn’t go his or her way, then the whole thing should scatter. It won’t affect just one person”.
Asked to assess the exactly one-month old emergency rule in the state, Ann-Kio Briggs said, “I must repeat myself at this point where I have said in the past that If we listen again to what the president said when he declared the state of emergency, he said he was declaring the state of emergency because there are security concerns, and this is why I also raised my voice and said, no, that is misinformation. If that is the information that the president is working with.
“Number one, that there is insecurity in Rivers State to the extent of declaring a state of emergency as the Constitution allows, and as amended; that is not true. There were no pipes that were being blown up at that time that could have justified the declaration of state of emergency. But I want to take us back to what we all heard the minister say today that he actually did not want the president to declare a state of emergency; that he wanted the governor to leave.
“Now, how that could have happened, I don’t know because that would have meant that the state assembly would have had to impeach him. That is probably the quickest way, if they went through the proper way of impeaching a governor which really should take months. That’s one side.
“Then the other side of it; the way that Ibas came along, he was sworn in before the National Assembly ratified the declaration. And then after that, the same situation has taken place where he that is on an illegality is now doing illegalities by appointing local government administrators.
“There is nothing in the Constitution for local government administrators. You must vote for local governments. So, he is pouring petrol on the so-called problem that he came to solve”.
Affirming that she watched the full interview “because it is about Rivers State and the turmoil that we have been through since 2023”, she said listening to the interaction, “there were times that I just found myself in a state of like when is this really going to end and if there’re truly any plans whatsoever that this should end, or that, in fact, this will end.
“But I think that for me, at the end of the day, because he spoke about PDP as well; and don’t forget that PDP is the political party of choice of the Niger Delta region as a whole, and particularly Rivers State and Bayelsa, all the states have always voted PDP. And so, if PDP finds itself in this situation where even someone like the FCT minister who has claimed over and over again how he rescued the PDP from literally, the bed of death, all by himself, to now listen and hear him say that the PDP is dead, is horrifying.
“And thank God I am not a politician, but I am interested in what politicians do in our name. But I’m also grateful that PDP is not the only political party that is in Nigeria and that we, in Rivers State and the Niger Delta, will not be stranded at the end of the day when it comes to voting.
“If we choose to vote, we will choose the candidate we will vote for and not be threatened and bullied and terrorised into voting for this candidate or that candidate”.
On Wike’s demand for forgiveness from Fubara for causing a political problem in Rivers, a visibly bewildered Ann-Kio Briggs said “To be quite honest, I don’t understand that Fubara should ask for forgiveness. On what grounds, and for what reasons? To God or to who? Forgiveness for what? You know, in our opinion, Fubara is far from being the problem”.