Rivers emergency rule: Ibas rejects Assembly’s move to probe six-month spending

The immediate past Rivers State Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.), and the Rivers State House of Assembly may be gearing up for a showdown following the latter’s decision to probe the state’s expenditure over the last few months.

Ibas ceased to be the administrator of the oil-rich state on September 17, following the end of the six-month emergency rule, after President Bola Tinubu directed the suspended state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, and the state House of Assembly members to return to office from the previous Thursday.

The Rivers State House of Assembly, presided over by the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, during its first plenary after the end of emergency rule, said it would investigate the state expenditure during the six months of emergency rule.

According to the resolutions of the House, “To explore the process of knowing what transpired during the emergency rule with regard to spending from the consolidated revenue fund for the award of contracts and other expenditure.”

Findings showed that Rivers State received at least N254.37bn from the Federation Account Allocation Committee between March and August 2025 under the tenure of the sole administrator.

This figure is based on an analysis of FAAC data from the National Bureau of Statistics and other sources.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Rivers State, Enefaa Georgewill, described the process that brought the sole administrator to power as illegal and insisted that the manner in which he has received and spent public funds since March was questionable.

Georgewill said the total amount the state got only deepened suspicion of mismanagement.

He explained that most major projects in the state, including the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex, remained stalled despite the heavy inflows.

Georgewill, therefore, called on Governor Fubara to set up a panel of inquiry to ascertain both federal allocations and internally generated revenue, and to investigate how the monies were expended.

He added that financial regulatory agencies must also play their part in interrogating the finances of the state under Ibas, stressing that civil society suspects corruption and will not relent in pressing for scrutiny.

Georgewill said, “We will be calling on the Rivers State Governor to set up a panel of inquiry to ascertain how much he received both in terms of federal allocation and Internally Generated Revenue and how he expended it. This is because we suspect corruption. The reason being that almost all the major projects are stalled, even the House of Assembly Complex, which he tried to touch; he couldn’t even finish it. So, we will be calling on the governor and financial regulatory agencies to make sure that they question how the funds of Rivers State were expended.”

Reacting to the House of Assembly’s move to probe expenditure under his tenure, Ibas said the lawmakers lacked the power to investigate him, pointing out that they didn’t appoint him as the Administrator of the State.

Ibas, through his Senior Special Adviser on Media, Hector Igbikiowubu, said it was understandable that, having been away from the business of legislation for a while, the lawmakers were merely trying to make an effort to discharge their functions.

He, however, described the lawmakers’ resolve as commentary, adding that the attempt to probe the former administrator was tantamount to probing the President, who appointed him, as well as the National Assembly, which supervised the activities of Ibas as the state administrator.