Dame Aleruchi Cookey-Gam , a former Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Rivers State on Friday said there was no breakdown of law and order in Rivers state for President Bola Tinubu to have suspended the governor and appointed a sole administrator.
Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu, and the Rivers House of Assembly members were suspended for six months by President Bola Tinubu after he declared a state of emergency in the state on March 18 and appointed a sole administrator, Ibok- Ete Ibas for the state.
Speaking on Arise TV, Cookey-Gam who was also a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG) said what happened in Rivers state was an anomaly which is totally unacceptable.
“My reading of the situation will be that Rivers indigenes should stand up at a time like this for their state to be counted. What has happened in Rivers state is unacceptable and as much as possible, there must be concerted efforts put in place to make sure that things come back to normal in Rivers state. This is not a time to look for appointment or to pretend that you want to serve the state. What we have before us is an anomaly”.
“In saying so, I want to refer both Mr. President who has appointed the sole administrator and the sole administrator to the provisions of the constitution that provides for what should happen in a situation where as said by the Supreme Court no appropriation law is in place. That is section 120 and 121 of the constitution. How monies can be spent from the consolidated revenues fund of the state. Section 122 provides that in such a situation, all that can happen is that the governor will be able to expend monies for needs that meet the requirements of the state”.
Cookey-Gam also said Ibas, as a sole administrator cannot embark on new capital projects or appoint commissioners as there are permanent secretaries already in the civil service who are heads of the ministries.
“Now, if we translate that to what is happening now, we do not expect that the sole administrator is going to be embarking on any capital projects. His primary responsibility is to bring back law and order and also to ensure that there is safety and security for all, even though as far as we are concerned, there was no breakdown of law and order in Rivers”.
“Now, the expenses of state that he will be taking care of at this time will be the salaries of public workers and recurrent expenditure”.
“So, I don’t see how the sole administrator is going to require a full cabinet of commissioners because every ministries, departments and agencies have permanent secretaries who are civil servants and they are the heads of the government departments. They are in a position to guide the sole administrator as to who are the salaried employees and also at the local government level, the HCMs are the heads of the local governments when there is no elected official”.
“So, in other words the summary of what I’m saying is that there is a limit to the powers that can be exercised by the sole administrator and we don’t expect to see him come up with a big array of commissioners to be carrying out any responsibility”.
