President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday in a nationwide address on the crisis rocking Rivers State, declared Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd) as Administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state.
TheNewsGuru reports that the President issued the declaration shortly after suspending the Governor of the State, Siminalayi Fubara for six months.
The president, according to the provision of the 1999 constitution, also suspended the Deputy Governor, Ngozi Odu and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Below are six things to know about the retired military chief.
The Rivers State military administrator, Retired Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas was born on September 27, 1960 and served in the Nigerian Navy from 1979-2021.
He is native of Nko in Cross Rivers State, and the Nigeria’s 22nd Chief of Naval Staff between 2015 and 2021.
In 1966, he started his primary education at Nko Primary School and concluded at Big Qua Primary School, Calabar 1971. Between 1972 and 1976, he attended Hope Waddell Training Institute Calabar.
He attended the School of Basic Studies, Ogoja in 1977 and proceeded to the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1979, where he served in different capacities, rising through the ranks to be the Chief of Naval Staff.
During his service, he attended several local and international military courses, including Amphibious Warfare School of the U.S. Marine Corps University in Virginia in 1992 and National Defence College, Islamabad, Pakistan. He bagged a master’s degree in defence and strategic studies from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Mr Ibas,64, bagged several awards in service, including the ECOMOG Medal and Forces Service Star. He was conferred with Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) by former President Muhammadu Buhari.