Ibas’ Tenure Over, Must Not Spend Rivers’ ₦1.48trn Budget Activist Warns
Rights activist Akpobari Celestine has declared that the mandate of Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, the sole administrator of Rivers State, has effectively ended following a political truce between Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his predecessor Nyesom Wike, and members of the state assembly.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday, Celestine insisted that Ibas must not spend “a kobo” of the ₦1.49 trillion 2025 Rivers State Appropriation Bill approved by the Senator Opeyemi Bamidele-led committee on June 25.
“The job of Vice Admiral Ibas is over,” Celestine said, emphasizing that with peace restored among key political actors, any further action by the sole administrator would be illegitimate. “He should not touch the budget. The funds belong to the people of Rivers State.”
Celestine, a member of the Governing Council of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), also urged President Bola Tinubu to lift the emergency rule imposed on the oil-rich state and reinstate Governor Fubara immediately.
He argued that normalcy has returned and that continued federal intervention would only deepen tensions. “The people of Rivers deserve their democratically elected leadership,” Celestine stressed.
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Ibas’ Tenure Over, Must Not Spend Rivers’ ₦1.48trn Budget Activist Warns