THE current happenings in Rivers State are thought-provoking. From the appearance of things, it seems that the sole administrator of the state, Ibok-Ete Ibas, has a script known only to him and those who appointed him.
His primary duty is to restore peace in the state. But since his contentious appointment by President Bola Tinubu on March 18, he has chosen to test the resolve of the Rivers people. Ibas is overreaching himself.
First, he sacked all political appointees. Then, he suspended the heads of all MDAs in the state. Also, he approved the reconstitution of boards for various agencies, commissions, and parastatals. Ibas approved the appointment of a new chairman (Michael Odey) and members of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission. These actions are controversial.
It is provocative and needless for Ibas to sack democratic institutions in the state. He is creating a parallel political structure.
Besides, rather than allow the most senior officials in all the 23 LGAs to administer the councils in the interim, Ibas appointed administrators for them. This violates a Federal High Court order, which reportedly restrained him from appointing administrators for the LGAs.
In July 2024, the Supreme Court declared the appointment of administrators or unelected officials to run LGAs illegal and unconstitutional.
When the Edo Governor, Monday Okpebholo, suspended all the elected LG chairmen in the state last year, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, declared it illegal.
In February, the Supreme Court ordered that Rivers State’s monthly allocation from the Federation Account be withheld. Today, the Central Bank of Nigeria has released the withheld allocations to the SA. This is a play on democracy.
Ibas has cancelled all pending procurement and tender processes carried out by the MDAs. It is as if the government is at a standstill in the state.
The SA should not toy with Rivers’ resources. Nor should he trample on the Nigerian Constitution. He may be acting at the behest of Tinubu. But he may not go scot-free.
Let history guide him. A former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, said he took certain actions on the instructions of the then-President, Goodluck Jonathan. Today, he alone is answering for his deeds in office.
A former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said former President Muhammadu Buhari approved some of his policies. Today, he is being prosecuted for his actions in office.
Incidentally, 11 governors elected under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party have gone to court to challenge the appointment of Ibas. The court should accelerate the hearing of this suit.
The powers that be may eventually achieve their aim in Rivers because the opposition is weak.
The onus is on Tinubu to caution Ibas. The President should give him a template for the exercise of his powers. Though his responsibility was the restoration of peace, there was no serious breach of the peace as such.
It was the needless meddlesomeness in the governance of the state by its former governor and Tinubu’s Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, that fuelled the contrived political crisis in the state.
It appears the President is the big elephant in the Rivers’ room. Nigerians are watching.
There is every need to reinstate the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the House of Assembly members.
Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the state last month and suspended these elected officeholders for an initial period of six months. He said that both the governor and lawmakers had not been able to work together.
Ibas should realise that his appointment is temporary. He should stop playing to the gallery. He may have appointed many anti-Fubara people today. But there is always a day of reckoning.
•Editorial By Punch Newspaper
