APC, PDP threaten to stop LG election in Rivers

• INEC denies releasing voters’ register
• IPAC warns against undermining electoral process

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the leading opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State have threatened to stop the local government elections slated for tomorrow in the state.

Governor Siminalayi Fubara had  in a statewide broadcast on Wednesday said there was no going back on the election this Saturday.

But the state chairman of the PDP, Aaron Chukwuemeka, who spoke to newsmen shortly after a peaceful protest against the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) at the DSS and Police Headquarters in Port Harcourt yesterday said the party will not fold its hands and watch the electoral body conduct the election on Saturday

He said the protest was to remind the two agencies of a court judgement restraining RSIEC from conducting the LG election as well as the security agencies from participating in the election.

He said, “We, as a party that believes in the rule of law have decided to take the letter to the police and DSS to tell them that we are not going to watch them conduct that election on that very day. We believe in the rule of law and we want everybody to comply with it.”

Earlier, hundreds of PDP supporters had stormed both DSS and police headquarters in Port Harcourt.

Similarly, the  Chief Tony Okocha led faction of the APC in the state said the party will not allow the local government election to hold. 

Chief Okocha who spoke to journalists in Port Harcourt  faulted Governor Similanayi Fubara’s insistence in going ahead with the election and vowed that  the party would challenge what he described as the you governor’s alleged  impunity in disobeying court orders.

“We are eligible to contest the election, APC is ready to contest elections but not under this  circumstance. The court has agreed with us that the processes were flawed and that election under that kind of scenario will be a charade and that is where  we stand,” he said.

In another development, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Rivers State, Dr. Johnson Alalibo Sinikiem, has dispelled claims that the commission handed over the state voters register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission.

Dr. Sinikiem told newsmen in Port Harcourt that the state INEC office had received two requests from RSIEC for the voter register, but compliance has been hindered by an order from the Federal High Court, Abuja.

He clarified that INEC’s ICT department houses the voter register in soft copy and would typically provide certified photocopies to RSIEC, but insisted that no such document has been handed over.

IPAC warns against undermining electoral process

Meanwhile, the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has warned politicians in Rivers State who have continued to use conflicting court judgements to frustrate this Saturday’s local government elections to desist.

The IPAC National Chairman, Yusuf Dantalle, told newsmen yesterday in Abuja, that elections cannot be stopped by judicial fiat in favour of political actors, jobbers and hirelings in pursuit of their inordinate ambitions.