Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, has dissolved the State Executive Council, relieving all commissioners and Special Advisers of their appointments with immediate effect.
The governor also approved the appointment of Mr Onwuka Nzeshi as the new Chief Press Secretary, while Mr Nelson Chukwudi, who served as Chief Press Coordinator, was relieved of his duties. No official reason was given for Chukwudi’s removal.
The decision was conveyed in a Government Special Announcement issued in Port Harcourt on Thursday and circulated to journalists by the newly appointed spokesman.
According to the statement, Governor Fubara directed all affected commissioners and Special Advisers to hand over to the permanent secretaries or the most senior officers in their respective ministries without delay.
“His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, GSSRS, Governor of Rivers State, has dissolved the State Executive Council,” the statement read.
“His Excellency has therefore directed all commissioners and Special Advisers to hand over to the permanent secretaries or the most senior officers in their ministries with immediate effect.
“His Excellency further expresses his deepest appreciation to the outgoing members of the Executive Council, wishing them the best in their future endeavours.”
The sweeping changes come amid ongoing political recalibrations in the state following a peace deal brokered in Abuja by Bola Tinubu between Governor Fubara and his estranged political mentor, Nyesom Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
The development marks the third intervention by the President in the protracted political tensions involving Fubara, Wike and factions within the state legislature.
With the dissolution of the cabinet, attention has now shifted to the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Speaker Martin Amaewhule, which is expected to receive a fresh list of commissioner-nominees from the governor for screening and confirmation.
Sources familiar with the political negotiations suggest that, as part of the understanding reached during the Abuja peace talks, the new cabinet list may include some loyalists of the former administration. It is also understood that a number of former commissioners could be reinstated as part of the reconciliation framework.
The cabinet shake-up is widely seen as a significant step in the ongoing effort to stabilise the state’s political environment following months of friction between the governor and his predecessor-turned-adversary.
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