By Abiola Olawale
The immediate past Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.) has rejected the Rivers State House of Assembly’s bid to scrutinize his six-month financial stewardship, branding the resolution as a “fool’s errand.”
This comes after the assembly, resuming plenary for the first time since March 12, 2025, unanimously resolved on September 18 to delve into the state’s finances during Ibas’s tenure.
Lawmakers, led by Speaker Martin Amaewhule, emphasized the need to “ascertain what transpired in the last six months with regard to the award of contracts and expenditures from the consolidated revenue fund.”
Ibas, a retired former Chief of Naval Staff and one time Nigerian Ambassador to Ghana, was appointed by President Bola Tinubu on March 18, 2025, to oversee the affairs the state during the emergency period. He later handed over power on September 17 following the reinstatement of suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara and other officials.
Speaking on the resolution of the House of Assembly, Ibas, through his Special Adviser on Media, Hector Igbikiowubu, dismissed the probe as baseless and unauthorized.
Igbikiowubu declared that the lawmakers lacked the power to investigate his principal, pointing out that they didn’t appoint him as the Administrator of the State.
He said: “When you say they were going to probe the tenure of the administrator, was it the Assembly that appointed the administrator?
“You see, the point to note is that commentary is free. You can’t stop people from running commentary. The House of Assembly has been on break for a very long time, and you will appreciate that they have not been able to discharge their functions for such a long time.
“Now that they have resumed, they have to make an effort to carry out their functions. So, it will seem their right to probe what has gone wrong in the state. Nobody can stop the lawmakers from carrying out a probe of what they perceive to be their functions within the state.
“But like I asked earlier, were they the ones that appointed the administrator? So, if you didn’t appoint the administrator, it goes to reason that you have certain limitations. When you also realise that the administrator was appointed by the President, it goes without reason that the administrator acted for and on behalf of the President.
“When you also reason that the administrator was supervised by the National Assembly, it goes without reason that when you decide to probe the administrator, you’re invariably saying that you will be probing the administrator and the National Assembly.
“So, I wish them good luck with their plan and their probe. But you and I know that such an enterprise amounts to a fool’s errand.”
Meanwhile, The New Diplomat’s checks have revealed that Rivers State received at least N254.37 billion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) between March and August 2025 when Ibas was the sole administrator of the state.
A breakdown of the allocation showed that Rivers State got N44.66bn in March, N44.42bn in April, N42.80bn in May and N42.30bn in June.
In July, the state received about N38.42bn, while in August it collected N41.76bn.
