{"id":7961,"date":"2025-06-04T16:48:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T16:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/?p=7961"},"modified":"2025-06-04T16:48:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T16:48:57","slug":"fubara-meets-tinubu-in-lagos-amid-rivers-political-crisis-bill-gates-honoured-with-cfr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/04\/fubara-meets-tinubu-in-lagos-amid-rivers-political-crisis-bill-gates-honoured-with-cfr\/","title":{"rendered":"Fubara Meets Tinubu in Lagos Amid Rivers Political Crisis, Bill Gates Honoured with CFR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"310\" data-end=\"583\"><strong data-start=\"310\" data-end=\"330\">LAGOS, Nigeria \u2013<\/strong> Suspended Rivers State Governor, <strong data-start=\"364\" data-end=\"385\">Siminalayi Fubara<\/strong>, held a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday at the President\u2019s private residence in Ikoyi, Lagos\u2014marking their first public engagement since Fubara\u2019s suspension in March 2025.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"585\" data-end=\"870\">Although official details of the meeting were not disclosed, sources close to the presidency hinted that the dialogue was \u201ccrucial\u201d and likely centered on resolving the ongoing political crisis in Rivers State, ahead of the expiration of the six-month emergency rule in September 2025.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"872\" data-end=\"1085\">Photographs released by the State House Media Unit showed President Tinubu and Fubara smiling and posing for the cameras\u2014a rare moment of public cordiality amid deepening political divisions in the oil-rich state.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1087\" data-end=\"1376\">President Tinubu declared a <strong data-start=\"1115\" data-end=\"1137\">state of emergency<\/strong> in Rivers State on March 18, 2025, citing rising political instability and economic disruption. As part of the emergency measures, Tinubu suspended Governor Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the state assembly.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1378\" data-end=\"1633\">The presidential action, however, has drawn heavy criticism from opposition parties, particularly the <strong data-start=\"1480\" data-end=\"1515\">People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP)<\/strong>, and various civil society groups, who argue that the move undermines constitutional governance and democratic norms.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1635\" data-end=\"1905\">In a separate high-profile engagement on Tuesday, President Tinubu hosted <strong data-start=\"1709\" data-end=\"1723\">Bill Gates<\/strong>, billionaire philanthropist and Co-Founder of Microsoft, at the same Lagos residence. Gates was accompanied by Nigerian business magnate and Africa\u2019s richest man, <strong data-start=\"1887\" data-end=\"1904\">Aliko Dangote<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1907\" data-end=\"2233\">During the visit, President Tinubu conferred upon Bill Gates the national honour of <strong data-start=\"1991\" data-end=\"2047\">Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR)<\/strong> in recognition of his philanthropic efforts and global contributions to healthcare and development. Gates received the medal and official certificate during a brief decoration ceremony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LAGOS, Nigeria \u2013 Suspended Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, held a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday at the President\u2019s private residence in Ikoyi, Lagos\u2014marking their first public engagement since Fubara\u2019s suspension in March 2025. Although official details of the meeting were not disclosed, sources close to the presidency hinted that the dialogue [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Fubara meets Tinubu in Lagos amid Rivers crisis, as President decorates Bill Gates with prestigious national honour.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7965,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7961\/revisions\/7965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}