President Bola Tinubu has sweated in Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Rtd) as Administrator of Rivers state, hours after suspending the State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and other elected public officeholders in the state.
Tinubu said that the decision to pick the former Chief of Naval Staff to lead peace initiative in the state was to ensure that Rivers get a man that understand the ethnic dynamics across Rivers.
The administrator was sworn in during a short ceremony held inside the Presidential villa on Wednesday to avoid any leadership vacuum in the state.
Ibas appointment was announced by Tinubu during a nationwide broadcast yesterday, when he declared a state of emergency in Rivers State and suspended the Governor, Deputy Governor, Ngozi Odu; and the Rivers State House of Assembly members.
During the address, Tinubu hinged his decision on Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, saying he can’t continue to watch the political situation in Rivers escalate without taking any action.
The suspension of Fubara and other democratically elected representatives has been expressly rejected and condemned by many eminent Nigerians, legal luminaries, groups including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Femi Falana, the Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Nigerian Bar Association, among others.
While the emergency rule has been praised by the pro-Nyesom Wike Assembly led by Martins Amaewhule, accusing Fubara of contravening the Supreme Court ruling on the political situation in the state, politicians and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), others have kicked against the decision, describing it as an act of despot.
Ibas, who was the Chief of Naval Staff from 2015 to 2021, was born in Cross River where he had his early education.
The new sole administrator attended the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1979 from where he proceeded to have a successful career in the Navy, rising through the ranks to the very top.
He is a member of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) and the Nigerian Institute of Management.
President Muhammadu Buhari who appointed him as Chief of Naval Staff conferred him with the National Honour of Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) in 2022.
