The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) has vowed to carry out the local government elections billed for today, October 5th, 2024, amidst a seeming determination by police to scuttle the event over a court ruling forbidding it from holding.
Police authorities in the state have said they will not provide security for the exercise, citing a court order.
However, RSIEC on Friday evening, said the election must go on as scheduled.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we emphasize unequivocally that the 5th October 2024 Local Government Council Elections in Rivers State will hold as scheduled, and there is no going back,” RSIEC said in a statement by its Commissioner for Civil Education/Public Affairs Tobin Tamunotonye.
Quoting the RSIEC LAW of 2018 and the judgment of Hon Justice I.P.C. Igwe of the High Court of Rivers State delivered on 4th September 2024, and the 1999 Constitution, he said the agency is empowered to conduct local government elections in the state.
He disclosed that the commission had transported non-sensitive materials to polling units across the state, and the updated 2023 voter registers have been made available at all 6,366 polling units.
RSIEC described the polls as “critical and in line with the order on RSIEC from the Supreme Court of Nigeria,” and emphasised that “voting centres will be open on time as scheduled as materials have been moved to the respective distribution points for all the polling unit and voters registers also released to election staff.”
It also dismissed claims about the resignation of its Chairman Justice Adolphus Enebeli (Retired).
“The above claim is mischievously false, baseless, and a fabricated lie from the pit of Hell calculated to mislead the public. For the avoidance of doubt the Chairman /Chief Electoral Commissioner is still in charge and has not resigned as maliciously circulated across the media space,” the commission said.
The events leading to the Rivers State local government elections have been marked by intrigues among political actors in the state. A verdict by the Federal High Court in Abuja had barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing the voter register to RSIEC.
It also ordered the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) not to provide security for the election. In the wake of the judgement, police authorities in Rivers say they won’t be part of the exercise.
The election’s main initiator, Governor Siminalayi Fubara had around 1am on Friday stormed the RSIEC office in Port Harcourt and accused police authorities of attempting to lay siege on the agency and cart away materials, a claim the police have refuted.
