The immediate past Rivers State Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.), was on Wednesday in Aso Rock, where he was received by President Bola Tinubu in company with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede.
Ibas, who bowed out as Rivers administration on September 17 after spending six months in the saddle, arrived at the State House at about 6 p.m. and was ushered into the meeting by Edun and Olukoyede.
Wednesday’s meeting comes three days after the erstwhile sole administrator rejected calls by the Rivers State House of Assembly to probe spendings during his six-month watch.
Edun had been sighted arriving at the Villa on Wednesday evening. However, he returned later carrying a file.
Details of the meeting were not made public at the time of filing this report, although one source close to the President confirmed that Ibas’ appearance is connected to his six-month stewardship in the oil-rich state.
When contacted for comments, media aide to the former Rivers State Administrator, Hector Igbikiowubo, said he was not aware of the meeting.
Igbikiowubo, however, promised to find out and respond to our correspondent.
But he had yet to do so as of the time of fling this report on Wednesday night.
Ibas ceased to be the administrator of the oil-rich state on September 17, following the end of the six-month emergency rule, after President Bola Tinubu directed the suspended state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, and the state House of Assembly members to return to office from the previous Thursday.
The Rivers State House of Assembly, presided over by the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, had during its first plenary after the end of emergency rule, said it would investigate the state expenditure during the six months of emergency rule.
The House had resolved “to explore the process of knowing what transpired during the emergency rule with regard to spending from the consolidated revenue fund for the award of contracts and other expenditure.”
Findings by The PUNCH revealed that Rivers State received at least N254.37bn from the Federation Account Allocation Committee between March and August 2025 under Ibas’ tenure.
This is based on an analysis of FAAC data from the National Bureau of Statistics and other sources.
While the NBS has released official breakdowns up to June, the figures for July and August were collated from documents presented at FAAC meetings obtained and reviewed by The PUNCH.
The NBS data revealed that Rivers received 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, according to the documents analysed. These brought total net allocations in the six months to N254.37bn, averaging N42.40bn per month.
PUNCH.
