An attempt by the Sole Administrator of Rivers State, retired Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas to foist his wife, Theresa Ibas, on the people of the state as their first lady was brazenly resisted on Friday by some women groups who had been mobilised for an empowerment programme under the Renewed Hope Initiative of Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, as they staged a walkout just as she started to address them.
The apparently irrepressible women who had sustained their opposition to emergency rule in the state refused to back down on their agitation for the reinstatement of their suspended governor Siminalayi Fubara, hence their revolt against Ibas’s wife representing Mrs. Tinubu at the event.
All had been calm at the EUI Centre, Port Harcourt, venue of the empowerment programme until the wife of the sole administrator, Theresa, was announced as the representative of Nigeria’s first lady, eliciting loud murmurs amongst the women who were all gaily dressed in a special uniform for the occasion.
What followed was a spontaneous reaction as majority of the women got up angrily while calling on those still seated to stand up.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that President Tinubu had on March 18, 2025, declared a state of emergency in Rivers State and suspended Governor Fubara, his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu, and all members of the state House of Assembly, citing security concerns and threat to national assets. He consequently named Ibas as sole administrator.
The emergency rule and Ibas’ appointment were ratified by the National Assembly in controversial voice votes 48 hours later.
However, Rivers women under the aegis of ‘Women For SIM’, had consistently staged what they called ‘Bring Back Our Fubara’ protests in different parts of the state, chanting songs of solidarity and demanding the end of emergency rule and reinstatement of their governor and his deputy.
Their agitation however took a dramatic twist at the event to the utter ignominy of Mrs. Ibas as the women, in their large numbers, refused to sit and allow “the wife of a stranger” and perceived “impostor” address them. As she started to speak, they raised their voices in protest, swallowing hers, even as they spontaneously staged a walkout amid shouts of ‘We want Sim, We want Sim’.
The angry women, who insisted that only Valerie Fubara was permitted to address them, sent a strong message that they would not accept the sole administrator’s wife as their first lady.
Viral videos on social media showed the women getting up all at once and leaving the venue while one of them bellowed: “Who is that impostor? Ibas’s wife is addressing Rivers’ women! Who is she? Come on, pack your load, Madam, we don’t want you”.
Another voice said, “We need Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu to come and address us; she is the one we have been waiting for. We don’t need a stranger. We want Sim right now. Sim should come today, not tomorrow”.
The women are unhappy that President Tinubu chose to throw his weight behind his minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and immediate past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, in the feud between him and his successor.
A source close to the protesting women told TELL that they were deceived into participating at the event.
According to the source who claimed some of them were part of the organisers, “we were told at our meetings that our First Lady, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu will be represented by the wife of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Fatima Abbas, but to our amazement, Ibas brought his wife to Rivers to address us in a state he said has security challenge. So, it is now safe for his wife to come and act as first lady. We will not accept it. We want our governor and his wife back”.
While the state government was yet to react to the walkout, it will be recalled that the sole administrator had recently issued a stern warning to the protesting women not to test his will, apparently irritated by their relentless demonstrations.