A total of 62 registered political parties in Rivers State have expressed readiness to participate in the Local Government Election scheduled for June 16, 2018.

Under the aegis of the Rivers State Chapter of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the group in a press conference addressed by its Chairman, Pastor Sam Ihunwo in Port Harcourt on Thursday said there was no truth in the claim by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that Local Government Election held in the State on May 23, 2015.

Ihunwo who was accompanied by representatives of the 62 registered political parties to the press conference, said IPAC was irked by what they described as ‘unfortunate and ill-considered’ decision of the APC to withdraw from the Local Government Election scheduled to hold in Rivers State on the 16th day of June, 2018.

“As you can see, 62 political parties are here present to express their happiness with the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RISIEC) for putting the machinery in place to conduct free, fair and genuine Local Government Election on June 16, 2018,” Ihunwo said.

According to IPAC, the judgment of the High Court of Rivers State in Suit No. PHC/47/2015 put paid to whatever hope the APC had on the validity of the said May 23, 2015 Local Government Election.

The judgment, IPAC explained, voided the purported Local Government Election on the ground that no election was democratically conducted on that date by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission.

“By the judgment of the High Court of Rivers State in suit No. PHC/47/2015: All Progressives Congress (APC) v The Governor of Rivers State and 4 others, no democratically conducted Local Government Election held in Rivers State on May 23, 2015”, it stated.

IPAC also posited that the fact that APC refused to appeal the judgment meant it unequivocally agreed that no democratically conducted local government election held in the state on May 23, 2015.

The group lampooned the APC for what had become retrogressive tendencies, stating that the decision to boycott the June Local Government poll was an excuse for the party’s rising unpopularity in the state.

“Their withdrawal from the election is a propaganda gimmick to hide their unpopularity. It is part of their propaganda from the deep pits of hell reminiscent of the time they falsely announced to the whole world that the National Industrial Court sitting in Yenagoa had restored the annulled elections and asked for police security to take them to the Local Government Councils in Rivers State,” IPAC said.

The body of all registered political parties in the state said the threat by the APC to boycott the coming local government poll was in consonance with the character of the party which it said, abhors inter-party cooperation, democratic procedures and principles in preference for propaganda, falsehood and distortion of facts.

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