Port Harcourt, March 24, 2025| It’s just past 2 AM here in West Africa, and Nigeria’s oil-rich Rivers State is a cauldron of fury after Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka unleashed a scathing rebuke of President Bola Tinubu’s emergency rule. On Sunday, March 23, the literary titan didn’t hold back, calling the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu, and the entire Rivers State Assembly an “excessive” overreach that buries the spirit of federalism. As the clock ticks toward a murky dawn, Soyinka’s words delivered in a Channels Television interview have lit a match under a nation already on edge.
The saga kicked off Tuesday, March 18, when Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers, citing a “breakdown of governance” amid a bitter feud between Fubara and lawmakers loyal to ex-Governor Nyesom Wike, now FCT Minister. In one fell swoop, he sidelined Fubara, Odu, and the Assembly for six months, tapping retired naval chief Ibok-Ete Ibas as sole administrator. Tinubu framed it as a lifeline to a state teetering on anarchy think political gridlock, oil facility attacks, and a Supreme Court nod that no “functioning government” existed. But for Soyinka, it’s a sledgehammer where a scalpel might’ve sufficed. “Too much power in the president’s hands,” he warned, urging Fubara to haul this to the Supreme Court and test its constitutional guts.
Soyinka’s not alone in the outrage. Former President Goodluck Jonathan, speaking Saturday at an Abuja colloquium, called it a “clear abuse of power” that smears Nigeria’s global image. PDP bigwig Adolphus Wabara dubbed it a constitutional violation, while activist Omoyele Sowore branded it a “democratic disruption.” Even the Northern Elders Forum begged Tinubu to reverse course. On X, the sentiment’s raw posts like one at 12:19 AM WAT today hail Soyinka’s call for a constitutional redo, while others, like a 10:50 PM WAT cry Sunday, see a “dangerous precedent.” Yet the Presidency’s Temitope Ajayi shrugged it off: “Jonathan and Soyinka have their opinions respected, but personal.”
For Rivers folks like Amaka in Port Harcourt, it’s less about opinions and more about survival. “We’re caught in a power game,” she said, voice weary over a crackling line. The Fubara-Wike rift months of budget freezes, Assembly lockouts, and whispered vendettas has choked governance. Tinubu’s move, backed by a National Assembly vote Thursday, swapped elected voices for a naval man’s rule. Supporters, like APC’s Felix Morka, argue Fubara’s “unlawful” reign allegedly sidelining lawmakers for a loyal trio forced the hand. Critics, though, smell a Wike-Tinubu pact to wrest control of Rivers’ oil-soaked purse.
Soyinka’s deeper jab cuts to Nigeria’s core. “This isn’t federalism it’s centralization on steroids,” he said, echoing a decades-long push for a people’s constitution. If Tinubu’s flex is legal Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution gives him emergency powers Soyinka wants it scrapped. “A pluralistic society can’t breathe like this,” he argued, floating a national conference to rewrite the rules. It’s a call that’s got X buzzing some cheer a “hero” challenging power, others scoff at an elder tilting at windmills.
The stakes? Rivers isn’t just a state it’s Nigeria’s economic artery, pumping oil that keeps the lights on. Emergency rule might steady the ship, but at what cost? Fubara’s camp, like the Simplified Movement, cries foul claiming peace reigned till Tinubu’s “misled” decree. The Presidency counters: “We’re protecting Nigeria’s existence.” Meanwhile, 10,000 NSCDC troops flood in, guarding pipes while democracy’s sidelined. “It’s martial law, not emergency rule,” one X user snapped Sunday, and Soyinka’s nod to police brutality against protesters only fuels that fire.
Tonight, as Rivers simmers and Lagos watches, Soyinka’s voice is a thunderclap 90 years old and still swinging. Fubara’s safe, says his aide Nelson Chukwudi, but sidelined. Tinubu’s holding firm, Ibas is in charge, and the Supreme Court looms as the next battleground. Is this a crisis quelled or a democracy gutted? For Soyinka, it’s a wake-up call: Nigeria’s federal soul’s at stake, and it’s time to fight for it. One thing’s clear this oil patch drama’s just getting started.