The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has postponed the hearing of a lawsuit aiming to prevent Rivers State Sole Administrator, Ibok-Ete Ibas, from appointing local government administrators across the state’s 23 Local Government Areas, setting the new date for May 22, 2025.
During the resumed hearing, the plaintiff, Oyingi Imiete, informed the court that the session was scheduled for hearing a motion for an interlocutory injunction.
However, he revealed that the defendant had already appointed sole administrators for all 23 LGAs on April 9, 2025, allegedly after being served with the court’s order and initial suit documents.
Imiete pointed out that the court bailiff served these documents on the same day as the appointments.
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He stated, “The matter was set for motion. The applicant’s motion, and they said the motion was withdrawn by the applicant. The applicants had equally put in the motion for a mandatory restorative order, and it has also been scheduled for hearing because the respondent’s actions have significantly impacted the subject matter before the court.”
In response, the defendant’s counsel claimed that the initial suit documents were not served until two days after the appointments and supported the plaintiff’s decision to withdraw the motion, referring to the appointments as a “completed act.”
He added that his client had not yet been served with the new motion and reserved the right to respond once properly served.
Both parties agreed to proceed with a full hearing of the originating summons. The court emphasized that all applications must be heard, regardless of perceived triviality, and that the facts and issues remain within the parties’ jurisdiction.
The case was then adjourned to May 22, 2025, for further proceedings.
The lawsuit, filed by the PILEX Centre for Civic Education Initiative and its coordinator Courage Nsirimovu, seeks to prevent the administrator from making such appointments, which the plaintiffs argue are unconstitutional and violate democratic governance principles.
On April 7, Justice Adamu Turaki Mohammed issued an interim injunction, barring Ibas from proceeding with the appointments and summoning him to explain why the injunction should not be made permanent.
Despite this, the Sole Administrator proceeded with the appointments, leading to criticism from civil society organizations.
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