The Niger Delta Advocates for Good Governance has raised alarm over what it described as the “gruesome squandering” of Rivers State’s resources by the state’s sole administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd).

 

In a strongly worded statement issued in Port Harcourt and signed by its spokesman, Chief Honest Nwenenda Woke, the Advocates accused Ibas of deliberately plunging the state toward bankruptcy through what it termed “systematic looting of public funds under the guise of administrative reforms.”

 

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According to the Advocates, sources within Government House confirmed that in July 2025 alone, Ibas directed the deduction of over ₦200 million from each of the 23 local government areas of the state.

“Again, on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, during the monthly Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) meeting, Ibas brazenly announced that over ₦1 billion would be deducted from the coffers of each LGA, allegedly for payment of pensioners. The announcement sparked outrage as the newly sworn-in council chairmen rejected the cheques in protest,” Woke said.

 

The group questioned the credibility of Ibas’s claims, recalling that the sole administrator previously boasted of discovering thousands of ghost workers and reducing the state’s wage bill. “If that was true, why is he now demanding ₦23 billion from local government councils? Who exactly is deceiving who?” the Advocates asked.

 

The Advocates expressed dismay that Ibas, rather than consolidating on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s intervention that restored fragile peace to the Rivers political crisis, has allegedly chosen to exploit the situation for personal gain.

“It is unfortunate that Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas is abusing the magnanimity of Mr. President and deliberately dragging Rivers State into a future of economic ruins,” the statement read.

 

Beyond alleged misappropriation, the group warned of imminent delays in salary payments, noting that August salaries might be stalled due to what it called Ibas’s “financial recklessness and desperation, knowing that his days are numbered.”

The Advocates called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and other anti-graft agencies to urgently investigate Ibas’s handling of state finances.

It further disclosed that it is mobilising petitions to international watchdogs and foreign governments, demanding travel bans on the embattled administrator.

 

“Rivers people will no longer stand by while the state is stripped of its future. We shall resist these excesses, both locally and globally, until accountability is enforced,” the statement declared.