A probe that includes a proper and comprehensive audit of the state finances in the last six months isn’t just a mere oversight function by the state assembly but an imperative exercise to ensure transparency, accountability, entrench fiscal responsibility and regain public trust.
The declaration of an Emergency rule in Rivers State is an aberration. It is a stain on our democracy. It undermines the rule of law. It neither inspires hope nor engenders confidence. It weakens our resolve to progress and develop the nation, and it’s an affront on the sensibilities of Nigerians. It should not have happened, and all the major political actors who played ignoble roles in what is now one of the darkest episodes in the history of the nation have surely written their names in infamy, and posterity will judge them accordingly.
Now that the emergency rule is over, we have to deal with the fallout and consequences of such an abhorrent and distasteful proclamation. Since the immediate past Rivers State Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.), who was foisted on the state after the suspension of the governor largely ruled by fiat and was not answerable to anybody, except maybe his handlers in Abuja, it’s safe to conclude that some illegalities and infractions would have been committed. For instance, no one can give a clear or proper analysis of how all the federal allocations and other funds that accrued to the state under his watch were spent.
Last week, the Rivers State House of Assembly announced that it would probe the state expenditure during the six months that Ibas oversaw the affairs of the State. There is nothing unusual about the announcement of the assembly. One of their responsibilities is keeping tabs on the finances and expenditures of the state. They are empowered by law to investigate if there is any reason to believe that public funds have been misappropriated and embezzled. What was astounding, however, was the response of Ibas to the Assembly’s announcement of a probe of his time in office.
A bellicose Ibas said the Assembly lacks the power to investigate him as they weren’t the ones that appointed him as administrator, but the president, and only he can order his probe. This level of arrogance and temerity is not unexpected. The man was imposed on the state and its people against the backdrop of the most brazen violation of the nation’s constitution. If his coming to power and staying in his office was made possible by the setting aside of constitutionality, legality and rule of law, it is exceedingly difficult to see how these sacred tenets of democracy will suddenly apply to him now that he is no longer in office. The people who orchestrated the conditions that handed him the control of the state on a platter aren’t exactly model democrats.
During the interregnum, Rivers state received at least N254.37bn from the Federation Account Allocation Committee between March and August 2025 under the tenure of the sole administrator. A breakdown of the allocation released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that Rivers took home N44.66bn in March, N44.42bn in April, N42.80bn in May and N42.30bn in June. In July, the state received about N38.42bn, while in August it collected N41.76bn. These brought total net allocations in the six months to N254.37bn, averaging N42.40bn per month.
With the staggering amount the state received between March and September and given that what these funds are expended on are not appropriated for or captured in the 2025 budget, a probe that includes a proper and comprehensive audit of the state finances in the last six months isn’t just a mere oversight function by the state assembly but an imperative exercise to ensure transparency, accountability, entrench fiscal responsibility and regain public trust. This money belongs to the people of Rivers State not an individual or a group of people like some perverse elements and never-do-gooders at the corridors of power would have us believe. They need to know how their money was spent in the last six months.
Furthermore, one question we must ask here is whether the members of the state assembly indeed want to probe Ibas or whether they are just playing to the gallery? Judging by the events of the last couple of years, the members of the assembly do not come across as men who can make their own decisions and stand by them without external factors. The very crisis that was used as a pretext to remove them from office for six months happened because they refused to become their own man and surrender to the whims of a man who dictates to them what they should do. Are the same lily-livered lawmakers who are tied to the apron string of an individual and can’t act on their own accord now ready to man up and do what they are elected for by the people?
Whether their announcement to probe Rivers’ spending is genuine or an empty rhetoric to save face, one thing we must collectively agree on is that handing over N254.37bn of state funds to a man not elected by the people to spend without any oversight and budgetary restraints and as he sees fit is appalling enough, the same man now trying to block investigations into how he spent these funds is profoundly unconscionable and unbelievably dangerous.
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