Author: Vincent Osuwo

President Bola Tinubu has appointed Admiral Ibokette Ibas (retd.) as the administrator for Rivers State. Ibas was named after Tinubu announced the suspension of the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, and his deputy, Mrs. Ngozi Odu, for six months. Until his appointment, he was the 22nd Chief of the Naval Staff, a position he held until 2021. Below are 18 things to know about the new Rivers state administrator: Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (CFR, psc+ GSS AM ndc MSc) was born on September 27, 1960, in Nko, Cross River State, Nigeria. He enlisted in the Nigerian Defence Academy…

President Bola Tinubu has appointed Admiral Ibokette Ibas, a former Chief of Naval Staff, as administrator of Rivers State. The appointment came after the president proclaimed a state of emergency in the state, suspending Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs. Ngozi Odu, and the state legislature for six months. Tinubu made the announcement on Tuesday, during a national broadcast. “By this declaration, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State are hereby suspended for an initial period of six months. “In the meantime,…

Another explosion happened at a pipeline manifold on Tuesday in the Omwawriwa axis of the Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area in Rivers State. This comes just hours after a similar explosion rocked the Shell-operated Trans Niger Pipeline in Bodo, Gokana Local Government Area. The most recent incident apparently occurred at a manifold linking a government pipeline deep within the forest. The pipeline distributes crude oil to Brass, Bayelsa State. While the explosion has not been officially confirmed, neighbourhood members reported seeing tremendous flames and thick smoke coming from an oil installation in the forest. Grace Iringe-Koko, spokesperson for the Rivers State…

President Bola Tinubu has suspended Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of Rivers State, and his deputy, Mrs. Ngozi Odu, for six months. Tinubu announced Fubara’s suspension in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday. The president also declared a state of emergency in the state, appointing a new administration to take over the affairs of the state in the interim. The full text of the president’s speech reads: Fellow Nigerians, I feel greatly disturbed at the turn we have come to regarding the political crisis in Rivers State. Like many of you, I have watched with concern the development with the hope that…

No fewer than 12 people have been killed after a plane crashed off the Caribbean coast of Honduras on Monday evening, officials said. The aircraft, operated by Honduran airline Lanhsa, fell into the water less than a minute after taking off from Roatán Island. Five individuals were rescued, according to the Honduran national police and fire departments, while one remains missing. The cause of the accident is unknown; however, Roatán’s mayor told local media that it was not due to regular meteorological conditions. The Honduran Civil Aeronautics Agency said an inquiry was underway. The Jetstream 32 aircraft took off from…

President Bola Tinubu has formally withdrawn the nomination of two Resident Electoral Commissioners to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. This was revealed in a letter read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Tuesday. According to the letter, Tinubu has revoked the appointments of the REC representing Borno, Mohammad I. Ngoshe, and his Bayelsa counterpart, Owede Kosioma Eli. Tinubu announced the nomination of the duo in a letter to the Senate on March 11. While the current REC of Borno, Umar Mukthar, was reappointed, another commissioner, Johnson Silnikiem, was introduced as the new REC of Bayelsa. The trio of Umar…

The Rivers State Police Command has confirmed that a fire has broken out on the Shell Petroleum Development Company’s Trans-Niger Delta pipeline. However, the command assured residents that everything was under control. Grace Iringe-Koko, the Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed this in a statement on Tuesday. Iringe-Koko stated that the fire was discovered on Monday night during a security sweep and that officers promptly notified SPDC, which shut down the concerned pipeline and triggered safety measures. “There is no further threat to residents or the environment,” she stated. Iringe-Koko did not say whether the fire was caused by an explosion,…

The Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has revoked the land of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) national secretariat in Abuja. On Tuesday, Wike issued the revocation notice in the form of a letter headed “Notice of right of occupancy with file no: MISC 81346 in respect of plot no: 243 within central area district, Abuja,” dated March 13, 2025. It was signed by the Director of the Land Administration (FTC), Chijioke Nwankwoeze. According to him, the opposition party has failed to pay the annual ground rents due on the property for twenty (20) years, from January 1, 2006,…

An explosion ripped through a portion of the Trans Niger Pipeline in the Bodo Community, Gonna Local Government Area of Rivers State. The explosion occurred late Monday night near the Bodo-Bonny Road, which was under construction. Thick black smoke was seen pouring into the atmosphere, with a blazing fire spreading quickly into the mangrove, according to a video released on Tuesday morning. The TNP is a federal transportation route that delivers oil to the Bonny Export Terminal in Rivers State. When reached, the state’s police spokesperson, Grace Iringe-Koko, stated that she would find out and get back to our reporter,…

Nigerians have criticised former presidential aide Reno Omokri over his call on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to discipline their member, Corper Ushie Uguamaye. Chronicle NG reports that Uguamaye, also known as Raye, openly criticised President Bola Tinubu over the prevailing economic hardship in the country. Following her criticism of the Tinubu-led administration, Uguamaye alleged that NYSC officials began threatening her and she was summoned to appear before her local government inspector in Lagos on Monday, March 17. Reacting to the outburst of the corps member, Omokri took to his page to assert that the corps member flouted the…