ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in oil-producing Rivers State and moved to suspend the state governor, his deputy and all lawmakers.
Rivers state had been embroiled in a political crisis pitting factions of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) against each other. The state lawmakers had also threatened to impeach the governor and his deputy.
Tinubu nominated a retired vice admiral as caretaker to run the affairs of the state for an initial six months.
“For the avoidance of doubt, this declaration does not affect the judicial arm of Rivers State, which shall continue to function in accordance with their constitutional mandate,” said Tinubu.
Earlier on Tuesday, police said they were investigating the cause of a blast in Rivers state that resulted in a fire on the Nigeria’s Trans Niger Pipeline, a major oil artery transporting crude from onshore oilfields to the Bonny export terminal.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh, writing by MacDonald DzirutweEditing by Gareth Jones)
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