The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has berated the interim administrator appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok Ete-Ibas (rtd) for illegal activities, including tearing down the official portraits of suspended Governor Siminialayi Fubara from public buildings.
National Coordinator of the group, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, on Sunday in a statement said that Vice Admiral Ete-Ibas’s action is like a bull in the China shop, especially in the way he has gone about demolishing all democratic structures in the state.
“HURIWA stated that the attempt by the military administrator to sneak his way into the office of the civilian elected and inaugurated executive head of the government of Rivers State should be resisted by all the good people of Rivers State who voluntarily and willingly donated their democratic mandate to the gentleman who inevitably remains the validly inaugurated sitting governor of Rivers State in the person of Mr Siminilayi Fubara.
“We in HURIWA and about 36 other registered non-governmental organisations, reject this unconstitutional overreach and the systematic power grab effort by someone who proudly told us that he served Nigeria for 40 whole years and was unblemished before he left the military as the nation’s Naval Chief.
“We are by this media advisory asking the retired Naval General Ibok Ete-Ibas to preserve his good name and reputation by rejecting his current politically charged assignment that is completely against the spirit, the principle and the essence of the grund norm. We urge him to stop being used to destroy democracy in Rivers State,” Onwubiko said.
He also noted that the administrator has demonstrated his aversion for the rule of law by flouting an extant order of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt division that stopped him from appointing unelected local government council administrators by proceeding to disregard the court by appointing his Kangaroo local government councils’ administrators.
He said, “HURIWA strongly condemns this illegal occupant of the position of the administrator of Rivers state who has demonstrated that he is so power hungry and is out for systematic power grab. We condemn as reprehensible, despicable and unconstitutional the decision by this so-called sole administrator to appoint fresh appointees into the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission even when there are electoral commissioners and a chairman whose tenure hasn’t elapsed.
“On which legal provision is this sole administrator relying upon to sack members of a statutory board such as the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission and why violate the constitutional provision that mandates that only elected officials should govern the local government areas rather than the contraption of picking some unelected persons as local council administrators? This is despicable and condemnable.” (Daily trust)
