… More uncertainties threaten the exercise in Rivers troubled political environment
… One day one new trouble
The Rivers State repeat local council elections have been scheduled for August 30, 202, but almost half of the citizens of the state do not believe it would hold, or that the outcome would stand litigation.
This is because the 2024 election was rejected by the Supreme Court for non-compliance with 90 days notice. The election was conducted under Gov Sim Fubara for which and some other reasons he was suspended by a federal fiat.
Now, the newly reconstituted election body has given only 21 days notice, and heaven has been let lose
The irony is that most of those who opposed the Fubara election using non-compliance with 90 days notice seem to be the ones hailing the 21 days notice, while most of those who supported the non-compliance are now up in arms demanding for full compliance.
This seems to show that in politics, nothing is right, nothing is right. It may all be a matter of interest.
When Fubara conducted the 2024 LGA elections, the camp loyal to Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister and former governor of the state, rejected the proposed elections. The camp is led by Tony Okocha, who is factional chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) whereas the godfather, Wike, is still in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from where he is controlling many parties.
Many knew that the Okocha faction rejected the election because it was going to go the way of their enemies. So, they used the courts to scuttle it. Their camp had earlier used the 27 defected lawmakers to retain the former LGA chairman (called the Wike boys) on seat, but Fubara would have none of that. This brought the state to a political stalemate until the state of emergency and suspension happened.
Now, the first thing the sole administrator (Ibok ete Ibas) did was to suspend the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) led by Enebeli and recomposed the body with a chairman from his home state (Cross River), Michael Ekpai Odey.
That was the first point of controversy; whether the sole administrator had power to suspend chairman of an independent electoral body, and whether it was correct to import someone from outside the state.
The next is whether the new body had power to fix its own date where the old body had fixed August 9, 2025.
Many groups argue that whatever date to be selected must first satisfy the 90 days notice which was endorsed by the Supreme Court. On this score, some political parties have opted out, insisting that any election conducted by the sole administrator with a foreign chairman and outside the constitutionally guaranteed notice would be ultra wires.
One of those who have made bold explanations on the fate of the fast-coming elections is Darlington Nwauju, spokesman of the Emeka Beke-led faction of the APC highly opposed to the Wike-backed but Okocha -led faction of the APC.
Arguing that the conditions for election have yet to be met by RSIEC, the publicity secretary hinted that his faction of the APC might not participate in the polls. This was how the Okocha-led faction also boycotted the 2024 election and went to court.
Read also: Rivers police command condemns attack on LGA sole administrator
Nwauju, as already published in BusinessDay, pointed at four points to note, referred to the position of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). “On June 25th this year, INEC, which is the principal election management body in Nigeria, issued an advisory, stating that whereas it has plans to conduct bye-elections to fill several spaces and constituencies that require to be filled as a result of either death, resignation or whatever reasons, that they are not able to conduct elections in Khana Constituency 2 citing the state of emergency in Rivers State.” By this, it means that for the fact that democracy is on suspension in Rivers State, there can be no valid election.
The next point he mentioned was that INEC had already issued another advisory warning state independent electoral commissions across the country to stop the idea of issuing a 21-day notice for elections.
“Election is a process, and it’s a cycle. It’s never a one-month exercise. And you’re trying to play around with words and semantics, telling us that you are revising the calendar that was earlier scheduled by Enebeli.
“Given the fact that you are revising the calendar, given the fact that the Supreme Court had on February 28th set aside everything done by Enebeli, how do you now build on what does not exist. How can you claim that you are not building on what the Enebeli did?”
He also argued that the tenure of the suspended chairman of RSIEC has not expired and that no other chairman can conduct an election. Many wonder who would be sued to court over the outcome of the election should there be legal fallouts.
“So, we are thinking that the rush by these individuals who are, as I’ve said before, strangers to us to the best of our knowledge, the rush to conduct elections is just a rush to waste taxpayers’ money.”
Another key objection by Nwauju is the allegation that some members of the new RSIEC were known card-carrying members of the PDP. “They are persons who are known to have campaigned for the PDP during the 2023 elections in Rivers State.”
Finally, and very importantly, he stated, the Supreme Court had warned, flowing from the judgment of Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, which ordered INEC not to issue a voter’s register to the RISIEC led by Enebeli, that without an updated voter’s register, elections must not go on at the local government levels in Rivers State.
Nwauju, whose faction is in court over control of the party in Rivers State, said given the issues raised, APC will not be in a hurry to go into the elections until the necessary criteria were put in place to ensure a free and fair poll.
Various political parties have taken position on whether to go ahead and participate or decline. The APC faction led by Okocha that shut down the 2024 election in court said they are ready for the repeat election, not minding 21 days. He said things were not properly done under Fubara but that they are now properly being done (under a sole administrator). This may be indication that the state of emergency favours the Wike camp and they produced some of those now taking over positions in the state government and LGAs.
On her own, Hilda Dokubo, state chairman of the Labour Party (LP), said her party will study the documents, timetable and references presented by RISEC before presenting a position on the matter.
She does not seem to look at the legal angles but what is best for the people of the state.
Imeabe Saviour, chairman, Coalition of Rivers State Youths, however, questioned the legality of the proposed polls, describing it as likely to exacerbate the lingering political crisis in the state.
He urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately lift the state of Emergency imposed on Rivers State and restore Governor Siminalayi Fubara, so as to restore political harmony and revive the state economy that has been negatively hit by the months of Emergency rule.
The Booth Party is the latest to announce withdrawal and willingness to press on with litigation against it.
The confusion is how to understand the political alignments in the state that would slug it out. The Fubara followers had moved into the Action Peoples Party (APP) to contest the 2024 LGA elections and won. Now that Fubara has returned to Wike, it is not clear if he is fighting the election or not, if only Wike will have all the way, or if pockets of groups are going to fight for slots.
It is also not clear if the cases being lined up are able to affect the election or if there is an understanding at the upper chambers that no court case would be allowed to truncate the tenure of the sole administrator and any action taken by him.
