The days following the recent imposition of State of Emergency (SOE) on Rivers State by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have witnessed an avalanche of responses from literally all sections of the country, which reveal various shades of opinion on the development. Expectedly, much of such reactions dwelt on the political correctness and otherwise of the development, without comparable attention to the challenges associated with the mission of the man on the spot – Rear Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas, the Sole Administrator appointed by the President to oversee the affairs of the state for the next six months in the first instance. Thus, his mandate runs from March to August 2025, during which period he is expected to douse the political tension and reconcile the warring interests in the state. The ultimate expectation is that he will change the narrative of the area from whatever has so far been whipping up the alibi, contrived or otherwise, that justified the SOE.

The foregoing notwithstanding, it is remarkable that the first impression of the sole administrator on arrival in Rivers State to resume as work, was that the area was peaceful and calm. This observation by the Sole Administrator largely vitiated the potency of the earlier narrative of the President on Rivers State as a cauldron of crisis that the Sole Administrator would come and restore calm as well as order. One then could as well wonder what his mission would be, if the area was peaceful.

Albeit, he is now on ground for the national and presidential assignment, to address issues which by his handling, will henceforth define the rapidly changing political course of the oil rich state. And needless to state that the success of his mission will depend on both his personal carriage as well as his approach to the numerous challenges of governance and administration that will engage him. Considering that these factors will ultimately also define his tenure as Sole Administrator, his task is more than a walk in the park.    

Interestingly, against the backdrop of his sterling personal credentials which place him as one of the most decorated military officers the country has ever produced – having risen through the ranks of service to the post of Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), with star studded epaulettes, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas is a source of pride to Nigeria as a nation, and the Niger Delta region in particular, which includes his home Cross River State.

It is in that context that his acceptance of the job of Sole Administrator in Rivers State – a sister Niger Delta State to his home Cross River State itself, raises some concerns especially given the build-up to the crisis he is now saddled with the burden of managing. Put allegorically, he is charged with the task of putting out a fire in his home base.

The first concern for many Nigerians is that the choice of him as a military officer  to serve as Sole Administrator of troubled Rivers State by the President during the course of a constitutional, democratic dispensation, constitutes a throw-back to the nation’s better-forgotten political history, whereby the political class would mess up the country and when there occurred any intractable state of affairs, they simply drafted in the military to restore order.  Meanwhile, it is a fact that the military – who are driven by their disposition to chivalry and patriotism, as well as oath of office to defend the country no matter the odds, would respond accordingly.

According to the lessons of history, hardly was there any successful or unsuccessful take-over of political power in this country by the military, without the active conception and execution by elements in the civilian political class. Even the much vaunted annulment of the June 12 1993 presidential polls in which Chief Moshood Abiola was the winner, enjoyed the background manipulation by the political class, with fingers pointed at him as being part of the background scheming.  For he was never a mere spectator in the entire drama.   

In the context of the foregoing therefore, the drafting of Rear Admiral Ibok-Ette  Ibas to serve as the Sole Administrator of Rivers State under some of the most questionable political circumstances, goes beyond the appointment into office of just an individual high ranking naval officer. It is more like recalling the military establishment back into civil rule by the back- door; moreso at a time the establishment had turned their back on holding political offices, and were concentrating on purely professional, career building engagements.  

Hence the proclivities of Rear Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas in office as Sole Administrator of Rivers State during this period of SOE, would rub off on the image of the Nigerian military establishment both for now and into posterity. Put succinctly, given the factors of the President’s blatant violation of the constitution by imposing a State of Emergency on Rivers State and drafting the naval top brass  to serve as Sole Administrator, his appointment remains not only a constitutional aberration as has been pointed out by countless well-disposed Nigerians, but also a distraction with respect to the new course of the country’s military establishment.   

That is why naval top brass – Rear Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas has to be a man of his own, and nobody’s errand boy or lackey – neither of President Bola Tinubu, who appointed him, nor of the President of the Senate Godswill Akpabio who is widely believed to have influenced his choice  as Sole Administrator, nor of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike, who is believed to be a major factor in the ongoing Rivers State political crisis.

 Given the political knife-edge on which he is expected to operate, it will be advisable that the Sole Administrator avoids any major shakeup of the core political structures in the state, to save himself from being soiled with the putrid yoke of partisanship and desecration of his hard-earned career legacies.

 Besides, even the Presidency has formally acknowledged that the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara still remains substantive governor who will return to office as the authentic chief executive of the state. This development accentuates the ephemeral status of the Sole Administrator’s tenure and belies any need to set up structures and systems that may be voided sooner than later after his exit from office. One of such areas is the conduct of fresh local government polls, following the dissolution by the Supreme Court of the last crop of elected leadership of the third tier of governance, in the state. Given the already politically charged state of affairs in the state, it may be one error too costly to make, with consequences that may not help the mission of the Sole Administrator.