Wike’s PDP, APC In Last Minute Protest March To Halt Rivers Council Election

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

Amidst the Rivers State Government’s insistence on going ahead with the local council polls billed for Saturday October 5, 2024, the All Progressive Congress APC on Thursday, October 3, joined forces with its otherwise bitter rival the Peoples Democratic Party PDP to protest against the move.

Despite encumbrances, including legal rulings, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, in a state-wide broadcast Wednesday, October 2, said there is no going back on the conduct of the election.

He noted that the exercise is in keeping with the demands of the Supreme Court judgement reaffirming the autonomy of the third tier of Government.

The Governor stated that having observed all the prerequisite conditions and extant laws precedent to the election, the State Independent Electoral Commission RSIEC is rearing to go ahead with the exercise despite the antics of some forces .

According to him, failure to conduct the polls will place the fate of the State 23 Local Governments in jeopardy in the face of the October 31, 2024 dateline for the enforcement of the June 20 rulings of the country’s apex court on local council autonomy.

To ensure a hitch free exercise, and also for people to meaningfully participate, he declared Thursday and Friday October 3 and 4 as work free days.

He called on workers to use the opportunity to travel to their various  places of registration to observe their civic responsibility.

Earlier, the RSIEC had insisted that the Abuja Court order on Tuesday barring the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC from availing it of the national voters register will not have any effect, as the document had long been obtained before the court order.

Besides, a Rivers State High court sitting in PortHarcout the capital had on Monday, ruled to mandate the RSIEC and the State Government to hold the polls using the INEC voters register.

The Rivers High Court 14 had also directed the security agencies to provide all the needed security for the exercise .

Protesters drawn from the two hitherto bitter rivals as early as 8.00 am  began to amass at the PDP state secretariat close to the Leventist Junction.

Before their decision to hit the street, Leaders of the two parties in the State, Tony Okocha and Chukwuemeka Aaron of the APC and PDP respectively, had separately, at different fora, condemned the planned local council election.

They had insisted that the processes of the polls do no not conform with laid down rules and such, unacceptable to them as parties and stakeholders.

Under heavy security guide, the protesting parties are calling for a halt of the process pending when a level playing ground for all is assured by the RSIEC

Not a few are perceiving the protest as a last minute  desperate effort by the embattled Federal Capital Territory FCT Minister Nyesom Wike to avoid the political bruises the successful conduct of the Local Council polls will inflict on his  ego.