By Suleiman Anyalewechi
An advocacy group ,the Citizens for Democratic Watch CDW ,on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, strongly condemned the appointment of Administrators for the 23 Local Councils of Rivers State.
The Source reports that Rivers State Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ibas, against a subsisting restraining court order early Wednesday morning named interim officials for the Councils which leaderships were sacked by the Supreme Court on February 28,.2025.
A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on Tuesday April 8,2025, had, earlier, ordered Admiral Ibas to suspend any moves towards appointing administrators for the State’s 23 Local Government Areas pending the hearing and determination of a motion on notice before it.
But less than 24 hours after the said Court injunction, Admiral Ibas, through the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, on Wednesday, not only announced the appointment of 23 interim Council Chairmen, but also reconstituted the Board of some dissolved Parastatals, including that of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC.
Expectedly, Ibas’s action has drawn a plethora of flaks, particularly on his decision to ignore a valid Court order that restrained him from appointing the Local Council Officials .
The CDW in a statement issued by its Executive Director, Dr Hassan Dantani, appealed to President Tinubu, to as a matter of urgency, call the Rivers State Administrator to order before the situation gets out of hand.
According to the group, Ibas’ action amounts to a gross abuse of power and office. It noted that no law empowers the Administrator to appoint Interim Council Chairmen for the 23 Local Governments.
” Appointing 23 Sole Administrators in clear defiance of a Federal High Court order is not only unlawful, but also tyrannical .
“No State of Emergency gives anyone the license to override the judiciary, erase Local Governance and act above the law. This must be condemned in the strongest terms.
Dantani noted that as duly confirmed by the Supreme Court in its ruling on the political crisis in the State, Local Council is a constitutionally recognized tier of Government which must not be run with undemocratically elected officials.
The group warned that allowing the obviously illegal acts of the Rivers State Administrator to stand is to inadvertently encourage future assaults on democratic institutions and structures .
“This action by Ibok-Ete Ibas is a grave violation of secion 7 of the 1999 Constitution which guarantees the system of democratically elected Local Government Officials.
“Our democracy cannot function if unelected individuals are imposed to run Local Government Areas under military-style appointments .
“The blatant disregard for a valid Court order should alarm every Nigerian, regardless of political affiliation.
“When leaders ignore Court Rulings and impose their will, what remains of the rule of law? If we allow this to stand in Rivers, it could happen anywhere else”, CDW noted.
To this end, the group urged the National Assembly to treat the democratic and power abuse ongoing in Rivers with all the seriousness it deserves .
They cautioned against any attempt to sacrifice democracy on the altar of political expedience.
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