Anti-corruption watchdog demands urgent action, cites Supreme Court ruling and constitutional breach as Rivers Sole Administrator sacks elected councils
The Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) has fired a powerful petition to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), demanding the immediate suspension of local government allocations to Rivers State, citing a dangerous slide into unconstitutional governance under a state-appointed Sole Administrator.
In the petition addressed to CBN Governor Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, HEDA accused the Rivers State Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (rtd), of brazenly violating the Nigerian Constitution and flouting a recent Supreme Court judgment that reaffirmed the autonomy of local governments.
Signed by HEDA Chairman, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, and also sent to the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Shamsedeen Ogunjimi, the group warned that the CBN risks becoming an enabler of illegality by releasing funds meant for democratically elected councils to appointed cronies installed after the controversial April 9 sack of all elected LG chairmen in Rivers.
According to the petition, the sweeping dismissal of elected officials and replacement with handpicked loyalists is a “flagrant breach” of Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which guarantees the existence and operation of democratically elected local governments.
HEDA also anchored its petition on the landmark Supreme Court ruling in AG Federation v. AG Abia State & Ors (2024) 17 NWLR (Pt. 1966) 1, which held that appointed administrators at the local level are unconstitutional, illegal, and of no legal consequence.
> “The law is settled: local governments must be administered by elected officials. The continued release of allocations to illegal appointees not only violates Section 7 of the Constitution but also brazenly tramples on the rule of law,” Suraju stated.
He warned that any financial support to unelected administrators is tantamount to aiding executive lawlessness and subverting Nigeria’s democracy.
HEDA therefore called on the CBN to immediately halt all disbursements of local government funds to Rivers State until the restoration of duly elected councils. The group emphasized that the apex bank, as custodian of public funds, has a constitutional obligation to uphold the rule of law.
> “We expect prompt and decisive action from your office in line with the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s binding pronouncement. Anything short of this would amount to complicity in undermining democratic governance,” the petition concluded.
The development is likely to trigger fresh tension in Rivers State, already grappling with political turmoil following the declaration of a state of emergency by President Bola Tinubu in March 2025 and the controversial actions of the Sole Administrator.
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