Frustration is mounting among residents and business owners in Port Harcourt as calls intensify for the removal of the Sole Administrator overseeing the city’s affairs. Many citizens have taken to social media and public forums to express dissatisfaction over worsening living conditions, stalled governance, and what they describe as a sharp decline in infrastructure and sanitation under the current interim leadership.
A viral open letter, directed at the Sole Administrator and widely shared across local online platforms, reads in part:
“Dear Sole Administrator, isn’t it 6 months already? Doing business in PH or Rivers State as a whole has become so difficult. Please, it’s time for you to leave so we can now enjoy our state as we were.”
Residents accuse the administrator of failing to address key urban challenges and reversing progress previously initiated under Governor Siminalayi Fubara. Among the top complaints are increasing filth across the city, overflowing drainages, poor traffic management, and alleged mismanagement of state resources.
“Port Harcourt has become so dirty and smelly,” one resident lamented. “Sim was already cleaning the drainages and canals. This administrator nonsense has to go. He’s wasting the state resources and my tax money.”
Critics argue that the continued imposition of Sole Administrators in local governments has paralyzed grassroots development and stripped citizens of democratic representation. Despite a court ruling that declared the appointment of interim administrators unconstitutional, the state government has yet to organize local government elections.
Meanwhile, pro-democracy activists and civil society organizations are urging Governor Fubara to immediately dissolve the caretaker arrangement and restore elected leadership to local councils.
As tensions simmer, many in Rivers State say they are simply tired — tired of being governed without a voice, and tired of watching their city deteriorate before their eyes.
