Three months ago, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu promulgated a state of emergency in Rivers State and suspended the executive governor and his deputy as well as the elected lawmakers, due to what he described as lack of governance in the state.
The President said the action was based on the February 28, 2025 ruling of the Supreme Court which directed Gov Siminalayi Fubara to present the state budget to the Amaewhule led faction of the state House of Assembly. In that ruling, the apex court frowned at the governor running the state without a budget, describing his action as undemocratic and lack of governance.
On March 18, this year, the President appointed and swore in Rtd Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ekwe Ibas, a retired naval chief as a sole administrator to oversee affairs of the state for six months. An action that was quickly approved by the national assembly with a voice vote, inspite of cries that the president’s action was illegal and unconstitutional.
A flurry of legal actions peaked in competent courts challenging the president’s action. Notably, the twelve opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state governors approached the Supreme Court, asking it to declare the presidential promulgation as ultra vires and unconstitutional.
Surprisingly and against public outcry, the Attorney General of the federation, through the Chief Judge withdrew these cases to Abuja, the federal capital territory, doubling legal expenses of litigants who have to travel to Abuja to prosecute their cases. The move has also been described as favourable to the FCT Minister, who has posited that such cases be withdrawn from the courts for a meaningful settlement between him and his political godson.
However, three months after his appointment, the people’s verdict is unsavoury – the state has been an economic dead zone for the past three months. A first time visitor to the state would observe this economic stagnation as people go about their daily activities with the hubris of emergency rule.
“Everything in the state is on standstill. Ongoing developmental projects in the state have been stopped, for what we hear is due to lack of funds. But we were told that the suspended Governor Fubara had said that the state government paid contractors 70% of the projects.
” Monthly salaries are not paid on time. Infact, as we speak local councils staff have just been paid May salaries and pensioners in the state are yet to be paid. The Solad, since assumption have paid salaries in the first week of the new month. That’s very strange in Rivers state,” volunteered Duncan Oyeopi, a Port Harcourt based public Analyst, in an exclusive chat with our Correspondent.
To Dr Leleonu Nwibubasa, a former Employment Generation Commissioner under former Gov Wike and an unrepentant Fubara supporter, the SOLAD, Retd Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ekwe Ibas is a total failure in the last three months. Dr Nwibubasa, in a prime network programme on national television accused President Tinubu of state grabbing in Rivers state for his 2027 ambition.
In that programme, Dr Nwibubasa declared that apart from the illegality of the emergency rule declaration, the SOLAD has abandoned his mandate as a sole administrator and executing a covert agenda against the people of the state, stressing that non of his actions would stand at the end of the day.
Other political observers in the state, including the coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) feel like Dr Nwibubasa. Some have even threatened to legally challenge the actions, while others have vowed never to participate in any local councils elections to be conducted by the Solad.
But Ibas barges on with unpopular and anti people’s programmes. Two days before Nwibubasa’s outbursts, the Senate approved President Tinubu’s 17 nominees for the reconstitution of Boards of some vital commissions in the state, including the state Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), Civil Service Commission (CDC) and the Local Government Service Commission (LGSC).
A day before the interview, Ibas jacked up the state budget from N1.46 Trillion he earlier submitted to N1.84 Trillion with so many flimsy reasons for the increase from the original N1.13 Trillion prepared by suspended Governor Fubara. An increase of over seventy percent.
His undoing however, is the recommendation of a fellow Cross Riverian, Mr Michael Odey to head the state’s ombudsman. An action that lends credence to the allegation of state grabbing because Rivers people feel that Ibas is hellbent on handing over the grassroot structures in the state to the FCT Minister.
Top on the lips of many Rivers people is unmasking the intentions behind Ibas nomination of a non indigene to chairman a sensitive and vital commission like RSIEC. It’s the topic for public discourse wherever more than two persons are gathered together in the state, wondering how a total stranger would conduct a free and fair election in a terrain he’s unfamiliar with.
It’s not known how Rivers people would react if and when Odey’s nomination gets the nod of the senators and finally sworn in as RSIEC chairman. What’s certain is that, it’ll be totally negative.
Only time will tell.
Mr Memoye Ikiti Oghu is the Editor of Thescale.com.ng and can be reached on 07052371385 or thescale24@gmail.com.
