PDP, APC warn Rivers electoral commission against declaring results of LG polls

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers have cautioned against the declaration of results in the state’s local government elections.

Speaking at a press briefing on Saturday, Aaron Chukwuemeka, the Rivers PDP chairman, warned that announcing results could incite violence.

“We can’t support or promote lawlessness or impunity in any form whatsoever, even though we are the ruling party in Rivers state,” he said.

“The proper court judgments must be obeyed as we cannot choose or pick which order of court to obey or not to obey.

“We want to caution that any attempt to announce any result whatsoever will be an invitation to violence and will be properly resisted as no election held in the Rivers state on the 5th of October 2024 as ordered by the courts.”

In a separate press conference, Victor Giadom, APC chairman in the south-south, said the party boycotted the election because of discrepancies with the existing laws.

“The entire process of the local government election in Rivers state is in conflict with the laws of the land —If the process is done according to law, my party will participate in the election,” he said.

On his part, Tony Okocha, ex-chairman of the APC caretaker committee in Rivers, also warned that declaring “fictitious” results would ignite unrest.

“We are amused that even after the receipt of the judgment, Governor Siminalayi Fubara broke into the gates of RSIEC and chased away police officers deployed in RSIEC to ensure compliance of the judgment,” Okocha said.

“We caution against any announcement or any attempt to announce fictitious individuals as elected chairmen in the local government area.

“Doing so is a clear-cut recipe for chaos and unrest. The governor’s attempts to enthrone his proteges into the councils will not work.”

BACKGROUND

There has been palpable tension in Rivers due to the prolonged turf war between Siminalayi Fubara, the governor, and Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT).

On September 4, a high court in the state held that Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) could conduct the LGA elections using the 2023 voter register.

But on September 30, a federal high court in Abuja barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the voter register to RSIEC.

The court also barred the inspector-general of police and the Department of State Services (DSS) from providing security for the exercise.

On October 2, INEC said it had not released the voter register in deference to the judgment of the federal high court.

A day later, a crowd besieged the PDP secretariat in Port Harcourt, the Rivers capital, to protest against the planned election.

However, Fubara vowed to proceed with the election.

On Friday, the governor visited the RSIEC office in Port Harcourt over a claim that police officers were planning to stop the election.

Police operatives had barricaded the facility where electoral materials are kept.

Fubara said the presence of police officers at the RSIEC premises was unnecessary, accusing Kayode Egbetokun, inspector general of police (IGP), of taking orders from Wike to truncate the election.

Reacting to Fubara’s comments, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) said its actions conformed with the judgment of the federal high court.

The LGA elections took place in parts of the state on Saturday despite the pull-out of security operatives.