The Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas has revealed that there is relative stability in the State, but that the State is still fragile.

The Sole Administrator revealed this in Abuja on Friday when appeared before the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Rivers State.

The Committee had invited the Sole Administrator for a proper briefing on developments in Rivers State, following the suspension of the State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara by President Bola Tinubu.

Speaking when he appeared before the ad-hoc committee, Ibas requested for more time to properly brief the committee on developments in the State.

Ibas, apologisesd for his inability to attend earlier engagements, explained that the absence was not out of disregard, but rather due to the weighty and urgent demands of stabilising governance in Rivers.

“I have always held the National Assembly in the highest regard. I recognise the importance of your oversight responsibilities and your interest in the progress being made in Rivers, which is presently relatively calm, but still fragile,” Ibas said.

He went further to say: “That said, I only request your understanding and the indulgence of this committee to grant me additional time to adequately prepare and present a comprehensive and constructive briefing.

“Given the complexities and sensitivities surrounding the current transitional period in Rivers. It is important that any engagement with this committee is done with the depth, accuracy and clarity it rightfully deserves.

“I remain fully committed to cooperating with the committee and to ensuring that all relevant information is made available in due course to support your important work.

“I only request the understanding and the indulgence of this committee to grant me additional time to adequately prepare and present a comprehensive and constructive briefing given the complexities and sensitivities surrounding the current transitional period in Rivers.

“It is important that any engagement with this committee is done with the depth, accuracy and clarity it rightfully deserves.

“I remain fully committed to cooperating with the committee and to ensuring that all relevant information is made available in due course to support your important work,” he said.

Meanwhile, addressing newsmen after a close door meeting, the Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Julius Ihonvbere (APC-Edo) said that the committee resolved to give a new date to the sole administrator.

Ihonvbere, underscored the constitutional role of the National Assembly in legitimising and overseeing the state of emergency declared in Rivers.

According to the chairman, the federal legislature remains central to the state’s transitional process.

Ihonvbere reaffirmed the committee’s constitutional mandate and expressed satisfaction that the administrator had finally honored the invitation after earlier delays.

He emphasised that the committee’s mandate was rooted in constitutional authority and that some of its terms had already been communicated to the administrator in an earlier letter.

The chairman encouraged the administrator to feel at ease, stressing that the committee members had been carefully selected to ensure broad representation across geopolitical zones and legislative experience.

“I want you to feel relaxed because the members you see here were carefully selected based on zonal representation and membership of the House to advance the progress that Rivers needs to make in order to be part and parcel of the holistic structure of democracy that Nigeria represents today.

“We have demonstrated again and again our preparedness to do this job efficiently and effectively,” he assured.

The Kogi State Utility Infrastructure Management and Compliance Agency, (KUIMCA) has explained the reasons behind the disruption in the service mobile Telecom giant, MTN in the state, pointing out that MTN owing to non compliance.

The Telecom service has been experiencing a service distruption in the last two weeks and witnessed total shut down in the last one week.

The Director General of KUIMCA Director General, Dr Taofeeq Isah while speaking with journalists on Friday in Lokoja attributed the shut down to the failure of the Telecom company to comply fully with rules of operation as stipulated in the official gazette guiding their operation in the state.

“In my assumption of office last August, I went through their files and discovered that they have not fully complied with the rules guiding their operations in the state. I called them for a discussion where they complained of being overbilled concerning the area of the state covered by their optic fibre.

” I went with them for verification exercise to assess their claim which took about 4 days and we found out they were even covering more areas than they claimed.

“We asked they to go and make the necessary payment but MTN refused. That is why we sealed off their facilities after obtaining court order to do so so”.

The Director General called on the citizens of the state to be patient with them since their interest was being protected .

He said that since MTN is not the only network operating in the state, citizens as well as the security agencies to consider switching to other networks considering their importance in securing the lives and property of Citizens which should not be compromised under any circumstance.

Also speaking, the Executive Chairman, Kogi State Internal Revenue Service , Salihu Enehe said that MTN has arrogated to itself so much power that they have been refusing to respond to so many entrities asking for complainces on various termes of operations in the state.

The Chairman who was represented by a Director in the agency Hassana Salawu noted that
MTN has been indulging in violation of various rules not only the optic fibre right of way across the state but also and have violated every rules guiding their operations in the state.

“MTN claimed to have 48 optic fibres when audit revealed they have 199 fibres laid under the ground in the state. We have called for reconciliation meetings severally but they claimed not to be ready up till now”.

But in a swift reaction, the MTN spokesperson in the State, though will not want his name in print, confirmed that negotiations is on going, assured that the issues will soon be resolved.