The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) has announced October 5 for the conduct of local government elections amidst controversy over the control of the third tier of government between political gladiators in the state.
RSIEC had been silent over the elections long after the three months prior to the expiration of the tenure of the recently outgone chairman thereby exacerbating the ongoing political crisis at the local government level of the state.
The lack of an election timetable by RSIEC led the Martin Amaewhule-led state house of assembly to bypass the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara to amend the state local government commission law and on the strength of that extended the tenure of the 23 chairman by six months all combining to create the legal fireworks in the state over local government administration currently in Rivers State.
But chairman of the election body, Justice Adolphus Enebeli retd; on Monday announced a new date for the conduct of elections amidst the ongoing local government succession crisis caused by the swearing-in of caretaker committees and the insistence of the former chairmen on the extension of their tenure.
He said that the elections would be held on Saturday, October 5, 2024, urging all participating political parties to play by the rules and guidelines saying “guidelines are set or skewed to favour anybody.”
He declared; “In exercise of the powers conferred on the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) by Section 5 of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission Iaw No 2 of 2018 and all other powers enabling it to provide guidelines to political parties, stipulating the rules and procedure for electioneering campaigns for the 2024 Local Government Council Elections and any Run-off(s), Re-run(s) and Bye-election (s) that may arise therefrom, the Commission hereby makes the following rules and guidelines.
“There shall be Local Government Council Elections on Saturday the 5th October 2024 in all the 23 Local Government Areas listed in the 2nd column of the Table and the first schedule to these guidelines, in which: (a) One councillor shall be elected in each ward. (b) A Chairman and Vice Chairman shall be elected for each of the Local Government Areas.”
Justice Enebeli assured; “The chairman and members of this commission hereby reiterate our determination to carry out our duties as outlined in the law. We shall organise and conduct free, fair and credible elections in the 23 local councils of the state. We shall provide equal opportunity and level playing ground to all registered political parties. We shall be firm, resolute, fearless and impartial in the discharge of our duties without minding whose ox is gored.”
Meanwhile, stakeholders at the meeting expressed concerns about the capacity of the commission to fair and firm but the RSIEC ensure that it does not manipulate the process for one political party to sweep all the available positions.
On his part, Rivers State Chairman of Inter-party Advisory Council, IPAC, Solsuema Osaro, said the political parties in the state are ready to participate in the elections, thanking the state Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara for creating a level playing field for a free and fair election.
He said; “I want to assure the general public that the political parties in Rivers State under the auspices of the Inter-Party Advisory Council are prepared and ready to contest this election, we also have taken good note of the fact that the this present RSIEC, His Lordship, Honourable Justice Adolphus Enebeli, (Retired) is a man of integrity and we believe that he would bring that astuteness being into play.
“Secondly, we also believe that the enabling environment we have today to participate in this election is already created by the Governor of Rivers State, who is a man of his word, a principled man, a humane-minded man, a man who loves fairness, genuineness equity to prevail in the land.”
Osaro, however, begged the commission not to allow political merchants and imposters to cause commotion in the political parties by hijacking the parties midway, as was witnessed in previous council elections.
“In the last dispensation, we saw a RSIEC that polarised political parties, that balkanised political parties, that allowed imposters, intruders, interlopers to get involved in the electoral processes, thereby giving it a bad name.
“So our concern today as tabled and we’ll receive is that RESIEC should not allow interlopers, imposters to come up and claim to be stake chairmen or claim to be local government chairmen, thereby creating a crisis in the parties, if such experiences that we have in the past occurs this time, it will not speak well.”
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