Rivers Administrator Defies Constitution; Appoints LGA Administrators, Constitutes Commissions

The Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas Rtd has announced a fresh round of appointments into public offices in Rivers State.

In a government special announcement released on April 8, the retired admiral appointed 23 Local Government Administrators and constituted a new board for the Rivers State Electoral Commission, with effect from Monday, April 7, 2025.

These sweeping appointments comes few weeks after Rivers State was declared “State of Emergency and he was apponted the Sole Administrator.

Legal analysts consider the action to be widely unconstitutional, these moves amount to a blatant disregard for Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, which vests executive powers in an elected Governor, not an unelected Administrator.

A constitutional lawyer based in Port Harcourt has opined that such action is illegal.

“Every action taken under an unlawful tenure further compounds the illegality”.

Civil society groups and legal scholars have criticized the appointments as “executive overreach,” warning that tampering with local government structures and the electoral commission without due process threatens democracy at its most fundamental level.

The list of appointees includes several politically exposed persons, raising fears that the electoral body could be weaponized for future partisan control.

Observers warn that this pattern of illegality may trigger institutional resistance or judicial redress, especially as pro-democracy groups intensify pressure on the federal government to end what they call the “constitutional siege” on Rivers State.

With this latest development, the crisis deepens further complicating an already volatile political atmosphere and setting up yet another legal showdown.