Rivers Sole Administrator appoints 11 new perm secs amid Tinubu, Fubara meeting

The Rivers State Sole Administrator, Vice Adm Ibok-Ete Ibas, has appointed 11 new permanent secretaries.

The appointment was contained in a Special Government Announcement issued in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

The three-paragraph statement was signed by the Acting Head of Service, Rivers State, Dr Mrs Inyingi Brown and sent to newsmen.

The statement said the newly appointed permanent secretaries would be sworn in by the sole administrator on a date to be made known.

The statement reads, “His Excellency, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (retd), the Administrator of Rivers State has approved the appointment of the under-listed persons as Permanent Secretaries.

“They include: Imaonyani Roselin Ephraim-George, Dr. Mina T. Ikuru, Dabite Sokari George, Soibitein Duke Harry, Lauretta Davies Dimkpa, Uche R. Ideozu, Chimenum Mpi, Jeremiah Egwu, Nicholas Iminabo Wokoma, Vera Sam Dike and Aleruchi Akani.

“The newly appointed permanent secretaries will be sworn in by His Excellency, the Administrator of Rivers State, on a date to be announced.”

The announcement for the appointment of the permanent secretaries was made same day suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara visited President Bola Tinubu at his Ikoyi private residence in Lagos.

In the course of the visit, the President held a closed-door meeting with Fubara, marking the first publicly known meeting between the two since Fubara’s suspension in March, 2025.

Sources said the ‘crucial’ meeting may not be unconnected with resolving the political crisis in Rivers state ahead of the expiration of the six-month emergency rule in September, 2025.

Photographs released by the State House Media Unit showed the President and Fubara smiling for the cameras although details of their discussion were yet to be disclosed.

President Tinubu had on March 18, 2025 declared a six-month state of emergency in Rivers State suspending Fubara, the deputy governor, Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the state assembly.

The move followed escalating political and economic tensions in the oil-rich state.