Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Lateef Fagbemi, has said that the declaration of an emergency rule in Rivers State saved suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara from impeachment by the suspended Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly.

Fagbemi made this statement on Wednesday at the State House in Abuja while justifying the emergency rule imposed on the state by President Bola Tinubu.

Recall that President Tinubu on Tuesday night declared a state of emergency in Rivers state.

The President also suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy and members of the State House of Assembly for six months.

In his stead, Tinubu appointed Vice Admiral Ibokete Ibas (retd.) to oversee the administration of Rivers State following the declaration of a state of emergency.

Fagbemi said the emergency rule declared by the president could be seen as a strategic manoeuvre that prevented the imminent impeachment of Fubara.

“About compromise and replacement. It appears so. Don’t forget, I think yesterday (Tuesday), there was a notice of impeachment from the house of assembly.

“If that impeachment had been allowed to take its full course, then the governor would have lost entirely and completely. So, in a way, if you say it’s a compromise.

“I will agree that instead of allowing the impeachment process to continue, which in the end, would have seen both the governor and the deputy governor out of office and would have been out for the entirety of the four-year term with the remainder of what we have,” he said.