By George OPARA
South South Editor
The return to democratic governance under Governor Siminialayi Fubara has come with a barrage of tendencies to probe Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd) who called the shots under the just ended six-month emergency rule in Rivers state as sole administrator.
In the metropolis of Port Harcourt, the state capital and beyond, the topical issue on the lips of not a few Nigerians is whether the most dreaded anti-graft agency – the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will initiate an investigation into how the state’s resources were expended during the undemocratic era.
Against the backdrop of political acrimony involving Governor Fubara and, predecessor now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FTC, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, state legislature which threatened law and public order, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu proclaimed a six-month emergency rule in the state.
The president’s action halted democratic institutions including the legislature, saddling Ibas with powers to run the state without legislative checks while key financial decisions only revolved around him as sole administrator.
In that period, the National Assembly passed the Rivers State 2025 appropriation bill with a budget figure of about ₦1.485 trillion. Ibas defended the spending before federal lawmakers and later justified an adjusted figure that some reports put at ₦1.846 trillion, attributing the hike to the inclusion of first-quarter expenditures and continuity projects. He explained that allocations went to critical infrastructure, pension and gratuity arrears, job creation initiatives, and security operations.
Ibok-Ete, however, in a recent state l function handed over on September, 18 yet, there are bourgeoning agitations demanding for accountability for the humongous funds he supritended while in office.
The newly reinstated state legislature going through its constitutional mandate has indicated interest to carry out an oversight function on the accrued accounts of the emergency period.
In like manner, Civil society groups and political actors are calling on the National Assembly and EFCC to probe the sole administrator’s financial stewardship essentially as he had direct access to state funds seized while Fubara was in office by the federal government, warning that the nation’s polity has been immersed in systemic corruption.
Allegations abound that under the former Naval officer’s watch he allegedly made reckless withdrawals running into billions from local government accounts.
Amidst the alleged financial indispline, it was reported that security aides have had to even protest over unpaid entitlements during Ibas’s interim regime besides, complaints of irrational appointments and decisions on the countdown to his exit from office.
Part of the reports alleged that a staggering ₦27.6 billion was deducted from the accounts of the state’s 23 local government councils. According to local officials, each council had ₦1 billion withdrawn from its August 2025 allocation, while an earlier ₦200 million was also taken from council coffers at Ibas’s express directive.
While some critics said “those withdrawals, came in addition to other unexplained deductions, heavy spending, and controversial transactions running into billions of naira from the state’s treasury”.
Others demanded, ” Ibas should account for the nearly ₦300 billion reportedly handed over by suspended Governor Fubara in March, as well as disclose total revenues received during his tenure, including federal allocations, 13 percent oil derivation funds, internally generated revenue, and foreign and local donations”.
Specifically, Human rights and political groups have petitioned to the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), to swing into action over the shady deals perpetrated by Ibas.
Specifically, the Niger Delta Advocates for Good Governance (NDAGG), a prominent pressure group in a statement said, “Ibas was on a mission to milk Rivers dry.”
Spokesman of the group, Chief Honest Nwenenda Woke, thus, profiled his regime as, “ ” “a dangerous financial mismanagement and brazen looting of local government funds.”
Woke alleged that in July 2025, Woke said, “Ibas personally directed deductions of more than ₦200 million from each of the 23 local councils without providing explanations.
“On September 9 meeting of the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee (JAAC) in Port Harcourt, the sole administrator ordered another ₦1 billion deduction per council, ostensibly for pension settlements.
“What is most troubling is the desperation to drain the state’s finances while boasting about saving ₦5 billion from the wage bill in August. His credibility is in doubt, because apart from paying salaries, Rivers people have not seen commensurate performance for the billions spent.”
Apart from Woke, Chief Opunabo Inko-Tariah, former aide to ex-Governor Nyesom Wike, and Comrade Charles Jaja, a human rights activist, have individually insisted on an independent probe into Ibas’s contentious era, citing a lack of openness and diligence in the management of state funds.
Yet, NDAGG confirmed it has written to her foreign associates and governments, demanding for a travel bans on Ibas pending when clears himself of the weighty allegations stacked against him. It emphasized that unless the stringent actions as requested are established, the case of Ibas won’t serve as a deterrent to strengthen Nigeria’s democratic system and processes.
The critics in their beliefs said if the practice of emergency rule is dictated to bypass normal democratic processes, then accountability being the hallmark of democracy should be activated with the restoration of democracy in the state.
The anti-graft bodies must see it as a wake up call to scrutinize bank records, procurement files, payrolls, Internally Generated Revenues, IGR, and the reconciliation of budget figures with actual spending.
This measure, insider sources said, was far away from victimization or witch-hunting, but meant to strengthen public trust that the state funds were properly utilized.
At the moment, political observers and critics have the belief that shortly it would be clearer whether the emergency rule was a conduit pipe to scoop the state resources ahead of 2027 general polls or a justifiable measure to detonate a looming crisis then as claimed.
Next to the uncertain democratic landscape in the state is how to curb the frenzy political dynamics of realignment, permutations and expectations which analysts posited are yet, potent landmines ready to explode someday.
