Within one month, Former Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok-Ete Ibas who was illegally imposed on Rivers State by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as its Sole Administrator, inadvertently reveals the dirty script allegedly handed over to him by Nyesom Wike with which to corner the political structures of the state and its finances to the latter
By Our Correspondent
Former governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, had frustration ostensibly written all over his face when he addressed a section of the media on Friday, April 18, 2025. Speaking at the event held in Abuja, with his usual arrogant gesticulations, Wike had tacitly revealed that he was in a pensive mood over what was playing out in Rivers State because his alleged secret script handed over to the Sole Administrator of the state, Ibok-Ete Ibas may have been badly executed, and was attracting a backlash that impugned the image of the government he is serving under.
Indeed, the high point of the Wike’s media outing on the fateful day was his outburst that his intention was to ensure that the elected governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, was removed outrightly through impeachment. But the illegal imposition of a Sole Administrator through a declaration of State of Emergency and unconstitutional suspension of the democratically elected governor Fubara by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was proving counterproductive as the presidency and the National Assembly which endorsed the actions have come under the fire of criticisms from different quarters.
Wike had sarcastically declared, “As a politician, I am not happy with the declaration of Emergency Rule in Rivers State. I wanted the outright removal of the governor. But for the interest of the state, the president did the right thing to prevent anarchy in the state. However, people must tell the truth; the governor was gone, he was gone. So, when people say the president did this, I say they should be praising him. Mr President came in and saved the situation, saved Rivers people from that calamity and anarchy”.
Last March, precisely on the 18th day of the month, President Tinubu had declared a State of Emergency in Rivers State due to the lingering political crisis that festered in the state over Wike’s alleged plot to make the governor, Fubara, a puppet governor while taking charge of the political structures and control of its huge financial resources. Unexpectedly, Tinubu had trampled upon, and gone beyond the power of the Constitution conferred on him in Section 305 to declare a State of Emergency under defined situations, and suspended the state’s elected governor Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu and the state’s House of Assembly elected members. In their stead, he imposed a Sole Administrator Ibas to rule the state.
Wike, Tentacle gathered, is sorely frustrated at the moment because the pendulum for the reinstatement of the democratic structures of Rivers State appears to be swinging in favour of Fubara due to the public outcry and condemnations that are trailing the missteps of Tinubu in suspending a democratically elected government by fiat. This magazine gathered that Wike had allegedly done everything possible within his power to orchestrate the removal of Fubara through impeachment but failed when it was clear that the citizens of Rivers State and beyond were solidly behind the governor and were prepared to oppose his impeachment by the majority members of the House of Assembly loyal to Wike. If there were impeachment proceedings against Fubara, it was revealed to Tentacle, Rivers State would burn with numerous casualties.
Thus, Tinubu and Wike had resorted to the ill advised State of Emergency with its accompanying illegal actions. To effectively achieve the objective of hijacking the state’s political structures and its vast resources for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Tinubu’s alleged second term bid come 2027, Wike had, allegedly, handed Ibas a secret script that would guide his (Ibas) rule of despotism, with a caveat according to pieces of intelligence available to this medium, that Ibas must unleash and execute its contents periodically in a discreet manner that would not attract suspicion.
Another caveat, it was revealed to Tentacle, was that each section or segment of the script must be executed with strict guidance from Wike to avoid overlap which could arouse public scrutiny and criticism.
Unfortunately for Wike, Ibas had become naive in his interpretation of the secret files handed over to him. Hence, without proper guidance from his betters, Ibas had gone full blast unleashing the script simultaneously with reckless abandon, a move that has since exposed Wike’s plot to allegedly ensure that the State of Emergency would linger till 2027.
A PEEP INTO THE SECRET FILES
Tinubu had reeled out the surface job description of the Rivers Emperor Ibas to include among others, address the root cause of the lingering political differences among the major actors in the political leadership of the state, ensure maintenance of law and order, as well as to ensure that the judgement of the Supreme Court was implemented in the state. But beyond the facade lay the secret files that must be a guide to all the actions of the Sole Administrator.
Within the first week of his arrival in Rivers State, Ibas had disbanded and sacked all existing Commissioners, top civil servants and political appointees as well as all Boards of ministries and parastatals he inherited from Fubara. He went on to disband all the existing democratic structures in the state.
Early in April he announced the reconstitution of the Boards of agencies, commissions and parastatals he had disbanded, and shockingly announced the appointment of Administrators to take charge of all the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state. It was alleged that all these appointments were completely in favour of Wike’s allies.
Early April, Ibas had allegedly announced the employment of 10,000 graduates and non-graduates into the state’s Civil Service. The announcement attracted vicious criticism from stakeholders in the state and other interest groups across the country. Ibas was quick to renounce the employment saga citing the handiwork of some unidentified malicious elements behind the announcement. The emperor in a strange land, as Ibas is now referred to, told a bewildered Rivers State Caucus of the National Assembly on a visit to his office that his unlawful government had articulated a new budget that would guide his spending of Rivers State funds.
He told his audience led by Senator Barinada Mpigi thus, “Since the Supreme Court verdict on the state’s budget, we have acted swiftly and decided to put together a new budget that reflects our commitment to healthcare, education, social services, and continued infrastructural development”.
In a similar move, the man referred to as the “Obong of Rivers State”, a derogatory sobriquet to reflect his illegal actions, Ibas disbanded the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RivSIEC), reconstituted it with a Chairman and members who are alleged to be wholly Wike’s foot soldiers. He has allegedly plotted to conduct fresh local government election in the nearest future. Ibas who many in the country regard as Wike’s “errand boy”, also removed Fubara’s photographs from all the public spaces in the state and replaced them allegedly with his own.
To crown his devious moves, Ibas had allegedly summoned the elected governor Fubara to his office alongside his deputy, Odu for questioning over how they ran the state and how they spent its resources under their watch. Tentacle learnt that the summons was intended to find ways to indict the governor and his deputy in order to extend the State of Emergency rule till 2027. Unfortunately for Ibas, the letter to summon the duo leaked to the public before it would be sent to Fubara. In his usual Maradonian style, the Sole Administrator denied inviting Fubara and his deputy for questioning.
These illegal actions of Ibas, were intelligently stuffed in just one month of his unconstitutional reign of vendetta, according to his critics, in the embattled state. Again, they were carried out in defiance to pending court cases both in the state and at the Supreme Court instituted by the PDP governors in favour of Fubara.
Ibas hasty implementation of the script is not coming without dire consequences. There have been protests and counter protests, the resignation and early retirement of the Chief Magistrate of the state, Ejike George who cited the illegal appointment of Sole Administrator as the basis for his retirement. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and numerous other bodies have remained at the forefront of criticizing Ibas and the Federal Government for the imposition of a Sole Administrator on Rivers State. The backlash has resulted in calls for relevant international bodies to call Tinubu to order to restore democratic leadership in the state.
Nigeria’s image is also at stake within the international community which has begun to see Nigeria as being ruled by autocrats and despots. At present, Tinubu, it was gathered, is under pressure to restore democracy in Rivers State. No wonder it was alleged that the president had hosted a visiting Fubara in London during his two weeks holiday whereupon it was further alleged that he issued Fubara with a condition to defect to APC whenever he was restored as governor or ensure that Tinubu would score a 25 per cent vote in Rivers State in the 2027 presidential poll.
IBAS LAWLESSNESS
Although he is an illegal imposition on the Garden city state in a democracy, many Nigerians had expected Ibas to show some level of decency, discipline and decorum in his public conducts. Many had thought he would operate within the limits of the laws of the Federation since Nigeria is a democracy. But true to his type as a junta, he had thrown caution to the wind while romancing with illegalities.
Hence, on Thursday, April 24, 2025, Ibas had deliberately shunned the invitation of the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on the Oversight of the Sole Administrator and his activities. Shockingly on the said day, Ibas attended the National Economic Council (NEC) Meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja where he was supposed to appear before the House of Representatives Committee at the National Assembly Complex. The NEC Meeting is chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, and is comprised of the elected governors of the 36 states of the Federation where issues of economic importance to the country are discussed. Ibas, constitutionally, is not a member of the NEC because the office he occupies is an aberration, unconstitutional creation of President Tinubu.
The House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee was constituted by the Speaker Tajudeen Abass on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, Chaired by Honourable Julius Ihonvbere, it scheduled its first meeting with Ibas on Thursday April 17 which the Sole Administrator allegedly gave excuse for his inability to attend. However, at another invitation, the Rivers State Sole Administrator appeared before the Committee where he pleaded for time to articulate a formal report to present to the lower legislative chamber. His plea, his critics insisted, was intended to allegedly buy time to articulate half-truths to present to the House which is alleged to be an appendage of the Executive alongside the Senate.
