Rivers State Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.) has approved the appointment of administrators for the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
This comes less that 24 hours after a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt reportedly restrained him from appointing administrators to oversea the affairs of the local government councils.
The order was issued by Justice Adam Muhammed on Tuesday in suit no. FHC/PH/CS/46/2025 in the case filed by PILEX Centre for Civic Education Initiative led by Courage Msirimovu against the Sole Administrator in his official capacity.
However, Ibas also approved the constitution of some boards of agencies, commissions and parastatals which he had earlier suspended.
The approval was contained in a Special Government Announcement issued on Wednesday morning by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Ibibia Worika.
Though the names of the new appointees were not listed, the statement said the appointments takes immediate effect.
It reads, “His Excellency The Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral (Rtd) Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas CFR, has approved the appointments of administrators for the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State.
“He has also approved the reconstitution of some boards of agencies, commissions, and parastatals, earlier suspended.
“All appointments take effect from Monday, the 7th of April 2025.”
Recall that last week, the sole administrator had suspended all heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the state with immediate effect.
In a separate development, Ibas also cancelled all pending procurement and tender processes carried out by Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the state.
He said the cancellation became necessary following the Supreme Court judgment and the absence of an appropriation law within the period.
The sole administrator according to a previous statement also issued by the SSG, directed all MDAs that carried out such tender processes for projects in their respective offices to refund such fees to the respective contractors immediately.