The All Progressives Congress’s Rivers State chapter has criticized the state’s electoral body’s plans to hold local government elections on August 30 and warned that doing so could violate a Supreme Court decision and deny voters their right to vote.
According to the apex court’s February ruling on the use of updated voter registration for elections, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission should postpone the polls until the Independent National Electoral Commission has finished its continuous voter registration in the state, according to APC spokesperson Darlington Nwauju.
Nwauju accused RSIEC of selectively adopting rulings from the disbanded 6th commission, which was led by Justice Adolphus Enebeli (retd). “I do not think you’re supposed to have an election in the middle of voter registration, given that many who have attained voting age this year will be alienated or disenfranchised,” Nwauju said.
The APC stance is in addition to growing opposition from well-known politicians and civil society organizations, as well as an ongoing legal action to stop the exercise. Under the state’s current emergency rule, stakeholders had contended that neither RSIEC nor Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.), the state’s sole administrator, had the authority to hold the LG poll.
The APC stance is in addition to growing opposition from well-known politicians and civil society organizations, as well as an ongoing legal action to stop the exercise.
The administrator and RSIEC have maintained their position that the August 30 date cannot be changed in spite of the criticisms.
Godfrey Woke, the RSIEC Commissioner in charge of Political Parties’ Affairs, Monitoring, and Security, stated that the voter registration that was acquired in March is still valid and that the commission has already started to screen candidates for councillor, chairman, and vice-chairmanships.
“The National Assembly, which took over legislative authority in the state following the declaration of emergency, gave RSIEC permission to conduct the poll,” according to the Sole Administrator, who made this claim through his Senior Special Adviser on Media, Hector Igbikiowubo.
“When people talk about legality, are they wishing away the powers of the National Assembly? RSIEC has the legal basis to do what it is doing. You can’t wish that away,” he said.
