The newly sworn-in Sole Administrator for Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-ete Ibas (rtd.), has promised to maintain law and order in the crisis-hit state.

“We know the circumstances that led to why we are here and Mr President made it clear in his broadcast,” Ibas told reporters after he was sworn in by President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja on Wednesday.

“If the main issue is that of maintaining law and order in the state, I think for any meaningful activities to take place in Rivers State, that is the utmost task that I have.”

The retired naval chief promised “to work together with other stakeholders to ensure that we bring peace, and order and security and stability to the people and government of Rivers State and Nigeria at large”.

Tinubu, in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, imposed a state of emergency in Rivers State, suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy Ngozi Odu; as well as the Rivers State House of Assembly members for six months.

Tinubu hinged his decision on Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution, saying he can’t continue to watch the political situation in Rivers escalate without taking any action.

The president immediately appointed Ibas, Nigeria’s Chief of Naval State from 2015 to 2021, as the sole administrator of the oil-rich state.

The suspension of Fubara and other democratically elected representatives has been expressly rejected and condemned by many eminent Nigerians, legal luminaries, and groups including Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, Femi Falana, the Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Nigerian Bar Association, the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), among others.

However, the emergency rule has been praised by the pro-Nyesom Wike suspended lawmakers, who accused Fubara of contravening the apex court ruling on the political situation in the state.