Security personnel and officers attached to the Rivers State government have protested against the administration of Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ibas (retd.) citing what they described as “hardship and abandonment.”
In a video seen by Reporters, the personnel kept yelling, “We are not doing again, we are tired. Hard labour, suffering. For what?”
They also accused him of attempting to sneak away with the state’s wealth while abandoning them to fate, ahead of Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s assumption of office following his suspension.
Last week, the Rivers State Administrator Ibas had declared that the emergency mandate given to him by President Bola Tinubu in March had been “sufficiently achieved” following the conclusion of local government elections and the swearing-in of elected officials across the state.
Ibas made the claim in Port Harcourt while receiving the comprehensive report of the polls from the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).
“Mr President’s mandate to me was clear: stabilise the state, re-establish its institutions, and return and return Rivers State to full democratic governance. With the successful conduct and inauguration of local government councils, we have decisively delivered on that mandate,” the retired Naval Chief had said.
He insisted that the elections, held barely six months after Tinubu imposed a controversial state of emergency in Rivers, were peaceful and credible.
“For once, an election was conducted where nobody was harassed, where people freely made their choice of leaders,” Ibas said, praising RSIEC for what he described as a transparent process.”
There have been concerns over the Ibas administration after Tinubu appointed him.
There have also been claims that his appointment was to ensure corruption in the Rivers State government and to give more access to FCT Minister and former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike.
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