{"id":906,"date":"2025-08-31T08:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T08:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906"},"modified":"2025-08-31T02:50:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T02:50:03","slug":"rivers-lg-polls-coast-now-clear-for-lifting-of-emergency-rule-says-wike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906","title":{"rendered":"Rivers LG Polls: Coast now clear for lifting of emergency rule, says Wike"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, believes the conduct of the Rivers local government elections is a step closer to the end of emergency rule in the coastal state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wike spoke on Saturday in Rumepirikom, Ward 9, Unit 007, Obio\/Akpo Local Government Area of the state after voting in the Rivers council elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kizz Daniel, Angelique Kidjo, Johnny Drille - Police (Official Video)\" width=\"980\" height=\"735\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9HnSQVpK8AU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo, having done this, then the coast is clear for the state of emergency to be lifted, meaning that the local government has representatives, the state government has its own elected representatives, so we are good to go,\u201d he told the press after exercising his franchise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI do know that by September 18, the state of emergency will expire, and that would mean that the state governor and state assembly will come back to their job, and we will have a government at the grassroots level,\u201d the former governor of the state said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He equally hailed the conduct of the elections and described it as peaceful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am very happy. It means that people identify with the elections,\u201d Wike, who was surrounded by supporters, said, dismissing concerns about voter apathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou have not heard of any violence. You have not heard of [people] carrying ballot boxes. You see that the electoral materials are there. People are there casting their votes. As far as we are concerned, the elections are very peaceful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOf course, we are concerned [about low turnout], but people are trooping out. Before the elections close, you will see the number of persons [increase]. So, we are very happy that, at the end of the day, these elections have been conducted very peacefully and successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The elections came six months after the\u00a0Supreme Court nullified a previous one\u00a0conducted\u00a0out by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In March, President Bola\u00a0Tinubu declared a state of emergency\u00a0in the South-South state, citing rising tensions over a months-long political impasse between Wike and his successor, Siminalayi Fubara, which had defied peace moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He suspended Fubara; his deputy, Ngozi Oduh, and members of the Rivers State Assembly in March for a period of six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In their stead, he\u00a0named a sole administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retired), to run the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weeks after the move, Fubara, Wike, some key members of the Rivers Assembly,\u00a0met with President Tinubu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of the gathering, the FCT minister told reporters that the parties had settled their issues. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelstv.com\/2025\/08\/30\/rivers-lg-polls-coast-now-clear-for-lifting-of-emergency-rule-says-wike\/\">(Channels)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, believes the conduct of the Rivers local government elections is a step closer to the end of emergency rule in the coastal state. Wike spoke on Saturday in Rumepirikom, Ward 9, Unit 007, Obio\/Akpo Local Government Area of the state after voting in the Rivers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1130,1127,1128,1125,1037,1126,1131,1129],"class_list":["post-906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-bola-tinubu-2","tag-emergency-rule","tag-ibok-ete-ibas","tag-local-government-elections","tag-nyesom-wike","tag-rivers","tag-rivers-state-independent-electoral-commission","tag-siminalayi-fubara"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rivers LG Polls: Coast now clear for lifting of emergency rule, says Wike - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, believes the conduct of the Rivers local government elections i\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rivers LG Polls: Coast now clear for lifting of emergency rule, says Wike - Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, believes the conduct of the Rivers local government elections i\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tona Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-31T08:25:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Nyesom-Wike.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1027\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tona.Today\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tona.Today\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tona.Today\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477\"},\"headline\":\"Rivers LG Polls: Coast now clear for lifting of emergency rule, says Wike\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-31T08:25:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906\"},\"wordCount\":425,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Nyesom-Wike.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bola\u00a0Tinubu\",\"emergency rule\",\"Ibok-Ete Ibas\",\"local government elections\",\"Nyesom Wike\",\"Rivers\",\"Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission\",\"Siminalayi Fubara\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906\",\"name\":\"Rivers LG Polls: Coast now clear for lifting of emergency rule, says Wike - Tona Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Nyesom-Wike.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-31T08:25:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, believes the conduct of the Rivers local government elections i\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Nyesom-Wike.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Nyesom-Wike.jpeg\",\"width\":1536,\"height\":1027},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?p=906#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rivers LG Polls: Coast now clear for lifting of emergency rule, says Wike\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tona Today\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Tona Today\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":117,\"caption\":\"Tona Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477\",\"name\":\"Tona.Today\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tona.Today\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tona.today\\\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rivers LG Polls: Coast now clear for lifting of emergency rule, says Wike - Tona Today","description":"The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, believes the conduct of the Rivers local government elections i","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rivers LG Polls: Coast now clear for lifting of emergency rule, says Wike - Tona Today","og_description":"The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, believes the conduct of the Rivers local government elections i","og_url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906","og_site_name":"Tona Today","article_published_time":"2025-08-31T08:25:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1536,"height":1027,"url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Nyesom-Wike.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tona.Today","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tona.Today","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906"},"author":{"name":"Tona.Today","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/person\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477"},"headline":"Rivers LG Polls: Coast now clear for lifting of emergency rule, says Wike","datePublished":"2025-08-31T08:25:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906"},"wordCount":425,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Nyesom-Wike.jpeg","keywords":["Bola\u00a0Tinubu","emergency rule","Ibok-Ete Ibas","local government elections","Nyesom Wike","Rivers","Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission","Siminalayi Fubara"],"articleSection":["Nigeria"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906","name":"Rivers LG Polls: Coast now clear for lifting of emergency rule, says Wike - Tona Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Nyesom-Wike.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-08-31T08:25:00+00:00","description":"The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, believes the conduct of the Rivers local government elections i","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Nyesom-Wike.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Nyesom-Wike.jpeg","width":1536,"height":1027},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=906#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tona.today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rivers LG Polls: Coast now clear for lifting of emergency rule, says Wike"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/","name":"Tona Today","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#organization","name":"Tona Today","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/tona.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Your-paragraph-text-1.jpg","width":500,"height":117,"caption":"Tona Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tona.today\/#\/schema\/person\/76420356652545dc8fd331a11f052477","name":"Tona.Today","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/caa7d2f1284ad52494d77a04b46fce0d6bf1fe423c5ef2a52e1d3c44ff2fad10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tona.Today"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/tona.today"],"url":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?author=2"}]}},"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":907,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions\/907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tona.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}