{"id":63995,"date":"2025-04-09T08:50:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T08:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=63995"},"modified":"2025-04-09T08:50:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T08:50:18","slug":"controversy-trails-rivers-sole-administrators-lga-appointments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/04\/09\/controversy-trails-rivers-sole-administrators-lga-appointments\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy Trails Rivers Sole Administrator\u2019s LGA Appointments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>By Patrick Idowu<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Tension is rising in Rivers State following the unexpected decision by the state\u2019s Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (retired), to appoint administrators for all 23 Local Government Areas, defying a fresh court order that sought to block such action.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Barely 24 hours after a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt issued a restraining order against appointing local council administrators, the retired naval chief pressed ahead with a sweeping move that has sparked political uproar and legal debates across the state.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The appointments were confirmed on Wednesday morning through a Special Government Announcement signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Ibibia Worika.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">According to the notice, the newly selected administrators \u2014 a blend of seasoned academics, legal experts, and professionals \u2014 are expected to assume office immediately, starting Monday, April 7, 2025.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Among those appointed are Dr Tamunotonye Peters for Akuku Toru, Barrister Ibiapuye Charles for Asari Toru, and Professor Gospel G Kpee for Gokana, alongside several others carefully chosen to oversee the councils.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">However, the timing has raised eyebrows. Justice Adam Muhammed of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had earlier, in suit number FHC\/PH\/CS\/46\/2025, filed by PILEX Centre for Civic Education Initiative led by Courage Msirimovu, placed an injunction restraining the state from proceeding with such appointments.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The case challenges the legality of caretaker administrations in place of democratically elected councils.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Legal observers warn that Ibas\u2019s decision may trigger a constitutional crisis, fuelling debates over governance, the sanctity of court orders, and respect for the rule of law.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In a further twist, the Sole Administrator also reconstituted several suspended boards and agencies, including the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The newly installed electoral body is chaired by Dr Michael Ekpai Odey, with Professor Arthur Nwafor and Professor Chidi among its members, a move seen by some as a preparation for future local council elections.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As the state braces for potential legal battles and political realignments, all eyes remain fixed on Rivers, where the line between bold governance and constitutional breach appears increasingly blurred.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Patrick Idowu Tension is rising in Rivers State following the unexpected decision by the state\u2019s Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (retired), to appoint administrators for all 23 Local Government Areas, defying a fresh court order that sought to block such action. Barely 24 hours after a Federal High Court sitting in Port [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":63996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-63995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63997,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63995\/revisions\/63997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}