The Rivers State Sole Administrator Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.) came under scathing criticisms on Wednesday following the sacking of the 23 local government caretakers and the head of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission.

The caretakers were replaced with administrators in the 23 LGAS in the state, while the RSIEC chairman, Justice Adolphus Enebeli (retd.), was replaced by Dr Michael Odey.

Odey will work with six members, four of whom are professors.

This came less than 24 hours after a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt ordered Ibas to appear before it to justify why the court should not grant a motion seeking to stop him from appointing administrators for the 23 LGAs.

Justice Adamu Muhammed issued the order on Tuesday in suit no. FHC/PH/CS/46/2025, filed by PILEX Centre for Civic Education Initiative, led by Courage Msirimovu, against the Sole Administrator.

Ibas?s decision was contained in a special government announcement issued on Wednesday by the Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Prof. Ibibia Worika.

The statement read, ?His Excellency, the Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral (retd.) Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas CFR, has approved the appointments of Administrators for the 23 local government areas of Rivers State.

?He has also approved the reconstitution of some boards of agencies, commissions, and parastatals, earlier suspended. All appointments take effect from Monday, the 7th of April 2025.?

Last week, the sole administrator suspended all heads of ministries, departments and agencies in the state.

In a separate development, Ibas also cancelled all pending procurement and tender processes carried out by ministries, departments and agencies in the state.

He said the cancellation became necessary following the Supreme Court judgment and the absence of an appropriation law within the period.

The sole administrator, according to a previous statement also issued by the SSG, directed all MDAs that carried out such tender processes for projects in their respective offices to refund such fees to the respective contractors immediately.

Ibas also approved the appointment of chairmen and members of the civil service and local government service commission.

Reacting to the appointments, Governor Siminilayi Fubara?s Special Adviser on Electronic Media, Jerry Omatsogunwa, described the development as impunity taken too far.

Omatsogunwa said Ibas had become a lord unto himself by his actions, especially as a court had summoned him over the appointments.

He expressed happiness that the National Assembly has faulted the planned budget preparation that the sole administrator talked about recently.

The governor?s aide stated, ?Well, we have seen impunity ?pro-max? in Rivers State, and I think the National Assembly had also said that the budget presentation that he said he was preparing will not stand because that is not the purpose for which he was sent here.

?And the court has asked him not to do anything and to come and answer. You know the rest of the story; 23 names were released as administrators of the LGAs signed by him (Ibas).

?So, for me, it is impunity taken too far. He is now a lord unto himself, and we cannot have that in a democratic setting. I think all well-meaning Rivers people must condemn such acts by the sole administrator, and it will not stand at the end of the day. ?

Ibas dismantling democratic structure ? PANDEF

The National Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, Amb. Godknows Igali, berated Ibas for dissolving the democratic structure in the state.

In a letter to the sole administrator, he frowned on what he termed the undemocratic steps he has taken so far in the state.

Igali said he observed ?A systematic tearing down of various structures, which are important for the continued building and consolidation of democracy in Rivers State right now taking place under your watch.?

Igali, in the open letter issued on Wednesday, stated that more troubling was the ?unbelievable level of dismantling, disassembling, and razing down all the institutions of democracy that have been in existence in the state.?

The retired diplomat flayed the removal of the photographs of the elected governor from all offices when he had not yet been removed from office.

He added, ?This I saw first-hand at the Port Harcourt International Airport, where I often pass through and was told this was at the behest of your administration. On inquiry, I was told that this has happened in all other government offices around the state.

?Beyond that is your most recent decision to suspend the boards of existing statutory institutions such as the State Independent Electoral Commission, governing councils of tertiary institutions, and even the revered traditional rulers council.??

?I do not claim to be an expert on constitutional matters but as one who has been atop in the country?s bureaucracy and from best global practices around the world which I know too well from my diplomatic career of nearly half a century, the duties of a sole administrator as a placeholder are making decisions in an interim manner regarding the management and day-to-day administration of the state, financial control, especially receiving money, making payments, and ensuring transparency; managing personnel and ensuring other human resource functions; and taking measures to ensure peace, particularly using the office to intermediate and bring back peace to the realm in question; in this case, Rivers State,? he enumerated.

The PANDEF leader added, ?This is more so as I have thoroughly read the Gazette dated 19th March, 2025 appointing you as Administrator as well as extracts of National Assembly proceedings of Thursday, 20th March, 2025 and do not find the kind of wide and sweeping powers being deployed by your office.??

He expressed the hope that Ibas would have the courage to ?undo some of your actions that have so far proven to be over the bar.?

In the same vein, an elder statesman and member of the Rivers State Elders and Leaders Council, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, has condemned the appointment of administrators for the 23 LGAs, saying Ibas has no power to hire or fire anybody.

Sara-Igbe said the appointment of Ibas as Sole Administrator of the state by President Bola Tinibu is conditional.

He described the situation in Rivers State as a coup, wondering how such an illegality was thriving as if there were no law in the country.

He said, ?The man who is appointing them (LGA administrators) has no locus. He came unconstitutionally, and his appointment is not covered by the constitution, so it?s null and void.

?Since he has no constitutional bearing, he has no power to either remove or appoint anybody into any office. But what is happening is to tell the world that they had an orchestrated plan for a coup.

?And Mr President has come short of the constitution. Section 10 says that nobody can take the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or any part of it without the due process of the law.

?So, if somebody is taking undue advantage without following the due constitution, it?s null and void, it?s ultra vires.

?Then, depending on section 305; section 305 doesn?t give the President power to suspend or to dissolve any elected office.

?So, the authorities that appointed them do not even have the power to say they want to dissolve, suspend or appoint at the state level. He doesn?t have those powers.

?All they are doing is to see that there?s impunity, they don?t respect the law. They don?t respect the constitution. They can breach the constitution anyhow they like but there?s a court injunction not to go ahead with this appointments and yet he flouted the court orders.?

Group threaten mass action

A group, the Rivers Emancipation Movement, threatened a mass action over the latest appointments by the sole administrator.

The National President of the group, Solomon Tamunotonye, alleged that the appointees are loyalists of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, saying this would further deepen the political crisis in the state.

He stated, ?The REM strongly and unequivocally rejects the appointment of sole administrators to oversee the affairs of the local governments in Rivers State.

?This decision is a brazen violation of the Nigerian constitution and stands in direct contradiction to the Supreme Court ruling on the sanctity of democratic governance at the grassroots.

?This appointment is largely populated by known allies of former governor Nyesom Wike, clearly exposing the sole administrator?s lack of neutrality and further deepening the political crisis in the state.

?By effectively handing over the LGAs to Wike?s loyalists, the sole administrator has demonstrated an unacceptable level of partisanship and disregard for democratic principles.?

However, the member representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency, Rivers State, Mr. Kingsley Chinda, asserted that Ibas? decision to appoint caretaker chairmen was in order.

Chinda, who doubles as the House Minority Leader, also stated that the appointment of a new RSIEC boss did not violate the provision of section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (As amended).

Asked if the retired admiral?s action did not amount to contempt of court, Chinda said, ?What court order? What was in place before his appointments? Don?t you want the local government area?s elections conducted?

?I speak as the member representing Obio/Akpor Fed Constituency, as the Minority Caucus or its leadership has not taken a position on this.

?The Supreme Court judgement is that funds should not be released to non-democratic local government councils as provided in the constitution.

??The administrator never met an elected chairman in council. How is he expected to administer? Even where he administers the local government areas from the Government House, it does not meet the constitutional requirement.

?He met the council areas without chairmen and an election timetable announced by the state electoral commission. Unfortunately, three members of the commission resigned, and the chairman absconded.

?He had no option but to return democratic rule to the grassroots in compliance with the court judgement, which informed the immediate inauguration of the state electoral commission.

?In the circumstances, he had no reasonable option than to appoint administrators at the local government areas in the interim as long as there are no elected chairmen.?

That said, the federal lawmaker challenged anyone to ?Point out the constitutional provision that bars him (sole administrator) from dissolving political appointees and appoint persons of his choice to help him deliver services.?

?The administrator has done nothing in breach of section 305 of the Constitution,? he insisted. (The PUNCH)

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