Foremost Ijaw leader, Joseph Ambakederimo has called for transparency in the management of Rivers State’s finances under the sole administration of Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ibas.
In a Press Statement entitled “Time To Account For One Trillion, One Hundred And Eighty Billion Naira (#1.18 Trillion) extended by Rivers Sole Administrator, Ibas and made available to Emipre Newspaper on Sunday, the Ijaw leader questioned the expenditure of over N1.18 trillion by Ibas in the six months since the emergency rule was declared by President Bola Tinubu.
Ambakederimo expressed concern that despite the huge spending, there have been no visible capital projects executed or attempted, suggesting that the funds might have been squandered.
The foremost Ijaw leader also criticized Ibas for operating with impunity, overstepping his mandate, and failing to unite the people of Rivers State, saying that; “Instead, he has been accused of engaging in divide-and-rule tactics”.
According to him, Ibas’s readiness to conduct local government elections without bringing the two sides together is preposterous.
Ambakederimo demanded full disclosure of the revenue profile and expenditures during in Rivers State of Ibas’s six-month tenure and announced plans to use legal means, including filing a Freedom of Information (FoI) request, to ensure transparency and accountability.
The Ijaw leader urged President Tinubu to reinstate the democratically elected governor and other officials, as the principal actors have reportedly reconciled and pledged to work together.
Here Is The Full Press Statement :
TIME TO ACCOUNT FOR ONE TRILLION ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY BILLION NAIRA (#1.18TRILLION)EXPENDED BY RIVERS SOLE ADMINISTRATOR IBAS.
It will be six months by 18th September, 2025 when the emergency rule proclamation was issued by President Bola Tinubu as a result of the intractable political imbroglio which engulfed Rivers State.
The intractable crisis led to the suspension of the Governor Siminailaye Fubara and his Deputy Mrs Ngozi Ordu along with the 32 members of the State House of Assembly. So far the back and forth and meandering of the two principal actors, Minister Nyesome Wike and Governor Siminailaye Fubara hasn’t yielded any positive pathway forward that will lead to the reinstatement of Governor Siminailaye Fubara and his Deputy Mrs Ngozi Ordu along with the members of the House of Assembly. Going by the intervention of the President, the thought was that the lifting of the emergency period and recall of the suspended Governor is eminent but to the surprise of many the matter seems to have been permanently kept in the cooler, nothing whatsoever is heard of an inkling of the likelihood of the lifting of the State of emergency anytime soon, the silence is deafening and becoming too close for comfort.
However, what has been observed is that the Sole Administrator is trudging on and operating with an air of impunity, delving into areas the mandate didn’t give him, spending monies with reckless abandoned; an overreach that must be called to question. We haven’t seen any capital projects been executed or even attempt to execute, payment of salaries and recurrent expenditures would not have swallowed as much as 1.18 Trillion Naira for the last six months that Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ekwe Ibas, has superintendent in the affairs of Rivers State.
A monthly Federal Accounts Allocation Committee inflows shows Rivers State earning about 230 Billion Naira including 13% oil derivation fund, total accruals for Internally Generated Revenue for the period is 650Billion (IGR), Three Hundred Billion Naira inherited from Siminailaye Fubaras’ government including all other inflows from other local and international agencies .
A critical look is that a total of One Trillion One Hundred and Eighty Billion Naira has so far has been squandered by Sole Administrator Ibok Ete Ekwe Ibas (rtd) Therefore we call for full disclosure of the revenue profile and expenditures of the Six months stay in office of Admiral Ibas Ibok Ette. We will use all legal means necessary to follow through on this matter until the Rivers People are adequately informed of the equitable use of their resources. As of today our lawyers have filed for Freedom of Information (FoI) which will be served on the Administrator.
More worrying is the efforntry the Administrator exhibits in his readiness to conduct the local government elections, operating with an air of finality in this regard is preposterous. He has failed woefully in bringing the two sides together and foster peace amongst the people of Rivers State, he should have played a fatherly role to unite the people, rather he has engaged in divide and rule which is abhorrent.
The time to stop this charade is now and let the people of Rivers State be governed by the democratically elected officers by the Rivers People. Stretching this for too long smacks of impunity and further disregard for the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Yes some of us supported the declaration of a State of emergency then, for us it was a necessity to save a dire situation that was evolving and could have spiralled into a conflagration, but since the principal actors have reconciled and pledge to work as one respecting the intervention of the President, then the next thing we expected to see is the reinstatement of the Governor and others.
The waiting is getting too long, the President should continue to be the Statesman he is and do the needful so that the people of Rivers State should have some sense of belonging and enjoy the dividends of democracy as the rest of other Nigerians.
