Reports have indicated that the suspended governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, was planning to make concessions in reducing the political tension in the state.

This came after the embattled governor held a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu during the president's 18-day retreat in Europe, and it was learnt that the suspension of the governor might be lifted before the end of the initial six months.

According to The Punch, the meeting was held on the request of the suspended Governor Fubara, who came into office in May 2023. A senior presidential adviser disclosed that Governor Fubara “pledged to make certain concessions in a bid to ease tensions.”

Another aide to the president added that the embattled governor was weighing the option of dumping the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC), so that he can be on the good side of President Tinubu.

The presidential aide said: “If Fubara joins the APC, it means the president’s chances of winning Rivers State are much higher.”

However, other presidential aides who were contacted to speak on the development said they were not on the presidential train that travelled to Europe, and therefore, did not have knowledge of the closed-door meeting.

The meeting between Tinubu and Fubara was the first of its kind since the former declared a state of emergency in Rivers, suspended the governor, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and the lawmakers in the state's legislature.

On March 18, President Tinubu, in a national broadcast, stated that “months of intense political instability” had crippled governance activities in the state, which by extension, threatened national stability.

The president then announced the appointment of a sole administrator in the state who is a former Navy Chief, Vice‑Admiral Ibok‑Ete Ekwe Ibas.

Seven governors elected on the platform of the PDP have kicked against the move and filed a suit against it at the Supreme Court, to challenge the constitutionality of the decree, while demanding the return to democratic rule in the state. Recall that the political crisis in Rivers had paralysed governance in the oil-rich state.

It was all about the power struggle between the governor and his estranged political godfather, and now the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.