‘Police officers’ fire teargas, disrupt Rivers LG polls

October 5, 2024 2:48 pm

Police officers, on Saturday, reportedly disrupted the local government election at Elekahia Primary School, Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital.

About 20 patrol vans carrying heavily armed personnel reportedly arrived at the scene, with the officers firing teargases into the premises of the primary school where the voting exercise was underway.

Earlier, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) commenced distribution of sensitive materials to LGAs for the conduct of the election.

In the early hours of Saturday, voting commenced in several LGAs, with voters casting ballots in some polling units while others awaited election materials’ arrival.

An explosion reportedly rocked the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress faction led by Tony Okocha, the ex-chairman of the APC caretaker committee in the state, hours before commencement of the election.

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 30, a federal high court in Abuja barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the 2023 voter register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (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 to RSIEC for the conduct of the election, in deference to the judgment of the federal high court.

On October 3, a crowd besieged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secretariat in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, to protest against the planned local government election.

However, Fubara vowed to proceed with the election.

On Friday, Fubara arrived at RSIEC office in Port Harcourt over claim that police officers wanted 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 the IGP of taking orders from Wike to truncate the election.

Reacting to Fubara’s comments, the NPF said its actions in Rivers conformed with the judgment of the federal high court.