The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), has announced October 5, 2024, as the scheduled date for the conduct of elections in the 23 local government areas of the state.

Making the announcement on Monday at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt, Chairman of RSIEC, Justice Adolphus Enebeli (rtd), assured all stakeholders that the election would be free, fair, and non-violent and that votes would count.

However, the stakeholders meeting on Monday was not without some controversies, as the major opposition political parties in the state, All Progressives Congress (APC) and the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, shunned the meeting.

The caretaker committee chairman (CTC) of APC in the state, Chief Tony Okocha, defended that he was not officially invited to the meeting, adding that he got to know about it from some social media platforms.

“I was not invited. My party was not invited. My party is too big not to be officially invited for an event like that. I am too big to attend an event I was not officially invited. RSIEC refused to officially invite me as a chairman of a major opposition party in the state.

“I saw the information of the stakeholders meeting on social media. I was in the church on Sunday, and I sent a mail to the chairman of RSIEC, and he replied that APC was a major stakeholder. My party can only take part in the election if things are done right,” Okocha said.

Also speaking, the Rivers state chairman of interparty advisory council, IPAC, Hon Solsuema Osaro, affirmed that 17 out of the 19 political parties in the state would fully participate in the scheduled local government elections in October.

“17 parties were in the stakeholder meeting. I want to thank the Governor, His Excellency Sir Siminalayi Fubara, for his determination to allow for the conduct of the elections. APC and the PDP were not in the meeting. We don’t know why they were not there. But I can assure you that the 17 parties at the meeting will gladly participate in the election,” the state SDP chairman said.

Speaking further at the well-attended stakeholders meeting, the Commission’s chairman, Justice Enebeli, said, “We are practicing the tenets of democracy. The tenets of democracy thrive on certain principles, which is what we are seeing here.

“The citizens have the right for political participation. The majority may rule, but that rule is counterbalanced by the rights of the minority,” he said.

He went on to say that in a democracy, there must be freedom of expression by the press, existence of the rule of law, and the independence of the judiciary.

He noted that the Commission was aware of the intrigues, issues, and disputes about calls for the local government elections in the state, assuring that “the elections will be free, fair, and non-violent.”

It will be recalled that the state was engulfed in serious crisis following the termination of the tenure of the former council chairmen loyal to the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, at midnight on Monday, June 17, 2024, which sparked political uprising in the state.

The former chairmen had insisted that Law No. 2, which was enacted by the Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly, had extended their tenure by six months and therefore resisted vacating the council secretariats in the 23 local government areas in the state. This action prompted the Nigeria Police Force to take over all the secretariats, barring anybody from gaining access until the final judgment of the case by the federal high court in Abuja.

The stakeholders’ meeting was attended by all the security agencies, civil society organisations, CSOs, the media, and other critical stakeholders. (Vanguard)

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