On Tuesday night, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State due to its lingering political crisis.
After the declaration, Tinubu subsequently announced the suspension of Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of the state, and Ngozi Odu, his deputy, for an initial period of six months.
The president then appointed Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas, a retired Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) as the administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state.
Prior to his appointment, Ibas was Nigeria’s 22nd CNS from 2015 to 2021.
A year after Ibas retired, Captain Emmanuel Ekpe, a former naval officer who was previously the assistant director of procurement in the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), protested what he described as forced retirement after he accused the former CNS of corruption.
In an open letter Ekpe wrote to Muhammadu Buhari, who was Nigeria’s president in 2022, the captain claimed the Nigerian Navy denied him promotion twice because he exposed corruption in the Navy under Ibas.
“Using myself as a case study. I was repeatedly victimised by the former Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ette Ekwe Ibas, for more than 20 years and continued by the present naval authority in conjunction with the present Minister of Defence. After availing myself of all options to seek redress within the system, I had no other recourse than to write a letter of redress to Mr President,” Ekpe’s letter reads.
“My problem with the former Chief of Naval Staff (Ibas) escalated in 2015 as a result of a case of fraud I had reported against him as the former Executive Officer of NNS AMBE, which was at the time in Liberia on Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group Mission in 1996.
“The former CNS was adamant on punishing me for exposing his corrupt behaviour. And so despite the fact that I had repeatedly met all the criteria for promotion, I along with so many others were denied promotion on frivolous grounds.”
Ekpe added that his international passport data was collected and he was placed on the National Security Watchlist.
“Your Excellency, based on the (previous) letter forwarded to you, I faced open hostilities from certain quarters in the government and the Armed Forces of Nigeria. If not for the intervention of the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff and the Chief of Defence Intelligence who believed that an infraction had been committed the story would have been different today,” the letter further reads.
“One of the numerous interviews held was with the former Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral IE Ibas (retd.), initiated by the immediate past Chief of Defence Intelligence. This meeting was held at the past CNS office in December 2019, in attendance were three of his Principal Staff Officers.
“Less than a week after this uneventful meeting, a Navy Signal was released directing that I and 25 other officers immediately proceed to Pan Atlantic University in Abuja on pre-retirement course. It has to be observed that 20 of the selected officers were not due for retirement as they still had time in the service.
“I am of the opinion that this action was carried out by the Naval authorities to shroud the fact that I and some of the selected officers were blacklisted by the CNS (Ibas). Sir, it has to be noted that this course is meant for officers who have less than six months in the service.
“In addition, I was the only one relieved of my appointment as the Deputy Director of Procurement at the Defence Intelligence Agency in January 2020.
“I was without an office or appointment until July 9, 2022, when I was compulsorily retired by Vice Admiral AZ Gambo and endorsed by the Honourable Minister of Defence despite a reminder to Mr President and a letter of appeal written in accordance with existing regulations. I saw this as a breach of my fundamental human rights manifested in the deliberate denial of my right to a fair hearing.
“Some of the allegations raised in the letter include my victimisation with relevant documents, victimisation and forced retirement of experienced and skilled operations officers through non-promotion, others include promotion of fraudulent officers that were investigated by the EFCC and indicted by a competent court of jurisdiction for stealing over officers who had excelled and continue to excel in various theatres of operations within and outside Nigeria and description of these issues have not been addressed. Or is my President and Commander-in-Chief no longer interested in zero tolerance for corruption? I doubt very much that this is the case.”
Ekpe’s letter on how he was treated by the newly appointed Rivers State administrator was never addressed by the Buhari administration.
