Stakeholders have called on the National Assembly to investigate Ibok-Ete Ibas, former sole administrator of Rivers State, over the management of N254.37 billion allocated to the state during the six months of emergency rule.
The demand follows President Bola Tinubu’s decision to lift the suspension on Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his cabinet, and members of the Rivers House of Assembly — effectively ending the emergency rule declared in March amid the state’s prolonged political crisis.
Ibas, appointed to oversee the state during that period, relinquished office last Friday when Fubara returned.
Most of the allocations received under Ibas’ watch came from oil derivation funds, which accounted for more than half of the total inflow. Critics say the sheer scale of the funds warrants a transparent public accounting.
Speaking during an X Spaces discussion hosted by NPO Reports and the Iwadi Development Initiative on Monday, Muyiwa Adeyemi, former politics editor of The Guardian, stressed that lawmakers have a constitutional duty to demand accountability.“All the proceeds and what you’ve done with them, you ought to account for.
The National Assembly should, as a matter of urgency, ask him to give a comprehensive account and make it public,” Adeyemi said.
Echoing this, Paul Bazia, chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Rivers, said a probe would not only serve public interest but also give Ibas an opportunity to clear his name.
“For the purpose of accountability, you need to show the people: ‘I received XYZ amount, and this is how it was spent,’” Bazia said.
The discussion also turned to Rivers’ fraught political landscape, particularly the lingering rift between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
Adeyemi argued that Fubara lacks the political machinery to withstand Wike’s influence, while Bazia described the governor as “more of a technocrat than a politician,” adding that his next steps will determine whether he consolidates on his projects or succumbs to political pressure.
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