Rivers State Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.), has approved the appointment of administrators for all 23 Local Government Areas of the state.
This development comes less than 24 hours after a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt reportedly restrained him from making such appointments.
The court order was issued on Tuesday by Justice Adam Muhammed in suit number FHC/PH/CS/46/2025, following a case filed by PILEX Centre for Civic Education Initiative, led by Courage Msirimovu, against the sole administrator in his official capacity.
Despite the court’s directive, Ibas has also approved the reconstitution of several boards of agencies, commissions, and parastatals that had earlier been suspended. This was disclosed in a Special Government Announcement released Wednesday morning by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Ibibia Worika.
While the names of the appointees were not made public, the statement confirmed that the appointments take immediate effect from Monday, April 7, 2025.
Last week, Ibas had suspended all heads of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in the state with immediate effect.
In a related move, he also cancelled all pending procurement and tender processes carried out by MDAs, citing the need to align with the recent Supreme Court judgment and the absence of an appropriation law during the affected period.
According to an earlier statement from the SSG, all MDAs involved in such procurement processes have been directed to refund any fees collected from contractors.