NADECO Demands Resignation Of Rivers Sole Administrator
A pro-democracy group, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) has called on the sole administrator of Rivers State, Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd), to resign from his post, calling his appointment ‘illegitimate’.
The President of NADECO USA, Washington DC, Lloyd F. Ukwu, Esq., disclosed this in a statement he personally signed and made available to THE WHISTLER on Wednesday.
According to him, “Nigeria operates as a federation, and Rivers State is a sovereign entity within it. As president, Bola Tinubu lacks the constitutional authority to unilaterally suspend an elected governor.
“Rivers State is not a subordinate institution, neither is it a high school and Tinubu is not its overseer and not the principal who can suspend a student willy-nilly.”
The group berated the president’s action in Rivers, arguing that Tinubu’s presidency “remains under a cloud of illegitimacy, having been declared the winner by INEC despite widespread irregularities and disputes over the election’s credibility.”
Ukwu continued, “It is both absurd and unjust for a president whose mandate is contested to attempt the removal of a legally and duly elected governor.
“The irony is glaring—a leader accused of electoral fraud seeking to undermine democratic governance in Rivers State.”
The group therefore called for the resignation of the sole administration, stating that in a democracy, sovereignty “resides with the citizens, not with an unelected administrator or an aspiring autocrat or want-to-be civilian dictator in Abuja”.
The group added that, “Governments derive their legitimacy from the consent of the governed—leaders are entrusted with the power to serve the people, not to rule over them by imposing an administrator over them.
“The people of Rivers State exercised their democratic right in 2023 by electing Siminalayi Fubara as their governor.
“They did not choose an imposed administrator. NADECO therefore demands the immediate resignation of this illegitimate appointee.”
It said true democracy required that governance be rooted in the people’s will, “expressed through free and fair elections”, adding that the current administrator “is an imposter and a usurper, lacking any mandate from the people. NADECO calls on Rivers people to unequivocally reject him”.
It stated further that, “This imposed administrator is accountable not to Rivers people but to Tinubu, Akpabio, Kereke Ekun, and Wike. His allegiance lies with these political actors, not with the citizens he claims to govern.
“The principle of ‘Power to the People’ is enshrined in Nigeria’s constitution and international human rights instruments, including the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Upholding this principle, NADECO insists that Rivers people must completely and resolutely reject this illegal administrator, forcing his resignation. Anything less is unacceptable.”
NADECO urged the people of Rivers State to remain peaceful and law-abiding in their lawful pursuit of their constitutionally protected right to protest in the face of injustice.
It however stated that, “History reminds us that when a government tramples on the rights of the people and renders judicial redress impossible, as is the case now in Nigeria, the people retain the inherent right to resist oppression.”
Tinubu had suspended the governor of Rivers State and members of the state House of Assembly, and appointed a sole administrator to oversee the state for six months, citing possible breakdown of law and order in the state as the cause.
NADECO Demands Resignation Of Rivers Sole Administrator is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
