BREAKING: Rivers Administrator Ibas Accused of Massive Looting, Financial Mismanagement

Rivers Administrator Ibas Accused of Massive Looting, Financial Mismanagement

 

The Niger Delta Advocates for Good Governance (NDAGG) has leveled grave accusations against Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd), the sole administrator of Rivers State, alleging large-scale looting and what it described as “dangerous financial mismanagement” of local government funds.

 

In a statement issued by its spokesman, Chief Honest Nwenenda Woke, the group claimed that in July 2025, Admiral Ibas personally ordered deductions of more than ₦200 million from each of the state’s 23 local government areas without any clear explanation or accountability.

 

According to NDAGG, the controversy resurfaced on Tuesday, September 9, during the monthly Joint Account Allocation Committee meeting at Government House, where Ibas reportedly announced a fresh round of deductions—this time exceeding ₦1 billion from each council—under the pretext of funding pension payments.

 

The development, NDAGG noted, provoked an open standoff as newly sworn-in council chairmen rejected the cheques handed to them.

 

The group further questioned Ibas’s credibility, citing his earlier claims of discovering thousands of ghost workers that allegedly reduced the state’s wage bill. “If that claim was genuine, why then is he attempting to strip the LGAs of a staggering ₦23 billion? Rivers people are not fools—someone is clearly being deceived here,” the statement read.

 

NDAGG also raised alarm over frequent salary delays under Ibas’s administration, warning that August salaries might face even longer setbacks due to what it described as reckless financial maneuvers.

 

“It is shameful that instead of consolidating the peace painstakingly restored to Rivers by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Admiral Ibas has chosen to exploit the situation, abusing Mr. President’s goodwill while dragging our state toward bankruptcy,” the group said.

 

Calling for immediate intervention, NDAGG urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and other security agencies to launch a full-scale investigation. It also disclosed plans to petition international partners and foreign governments to impose travel restrictions and sanctions on the embattled administrator.

 

“The Niger Delta Advocates for Good Governance cannot and will not sit idly by while the future of Rivers people is mortgaged by one man’s greed. Rivers belongs to all of us, and we will resist this looting with every lawful means until accountability is restored,” Woke declared.