The political crisis that is now roiling Rivers State appears to have no end in sight.

This is because it appears that further problems have been brought on in the state by the local government election that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, or RSIEC, held.

Governor Siminalayi Fubara ordered that the election be held on Saturday in spite of resistance from supporters of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike.

Citing a ruling by the Federal High Court in Abuja, Wike’s supporters in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a section of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have sworn to boycott the poll.

In a ruling, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja found that RSIEC had broken the law by failing to publish the required 90-day notice prior to announcing the election date.

Therefore, the voter roll could not be released by the Independent National Electoral Commission to RSIEC for the purpose of conducting the election, as ordered by the court.

Additionally, Justice Lifu disallowed the Department of State Service, or DSS, and the Inspector General of Police from handling poll security.

The ruling came after the state chapter of the APC filed a lawsuit against the judge, criticizing RSIEC’s decision to reschedule the polls to October 5.

No turning back from the polls

Governor Fubara asserted that the election would go as planned despite the court ruling that prevented the security agencies from taking part in it.

Last week, the governor’s attitude caused a commotion in the political arena as certain players attacked him, while others—such as former vice president Atiku Abubakar—threw their support behind him.

Similarly, disobeying INEC’s stance, RSIEC declared it was prepared to hold the election despite the legal obstacles and claimed to have access to the voter registration.

LG polls tarnished by thugs

The actions of a few armed men who were allegedly political thugs ruined the poll in some areas.

Remember how the APC secretariat in Port Harcourt was partially destroyed by suspected arsonists detonating explosives only hours before the election began?

Chief Tony Okocha, the head of the main opposition party’s state caretaker committee, charged that the horrific attack was carried out by Governor Fubara’s allies.

Similar to this, the FCT Minister’s residence in Rumuepirikom Community, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state, was the scene of numerous gunshots throughout the exercise, despite the fact that it was proceeding quietly in many other locations.

It was learned that a few unknown individuals had infiltrated the neighborhood before the election and were warning residents not to leave.

But just as the electoral officers were about to arrive at the ward in the LGA, armed individuals who appeared to be political thugs broke into the area and opened fire, frightening off voters who were planning to cast ballots.

at a related occurrence, some young people who were supposedly Wike supporters moved to execute the High Court’s ruling, wounding two persons with bullets at the Igwuruta community in the Ikwerre LGA of the state.

Local Government structure is reclaimed by Governor Fubara.

Alleged action taken by Wike to seize control of Rivers State’s political system following his eight years as governor, which gave rise to the ongoing conflict roiling the state.

In an attempt to keep the system in place, the Wike-supporting legislators from Rivers State sought to prolong the terms of the outgoing LG Chairmen by six months; however, Fubara dismissed them.

The governor then nominated caretaker chairman for each of the state’s 23 local government districts on June 19, 2024.

Under the leadership of factional Speaker Victor Jumbo, the state House of Assembly expeditiously vetted and verified the nominees.

Because of Wike’s significant influence in the PDP, Governor Fubara instructed his supporters to run for office on the platform of the Action Peoples Party, or APP, ahead of the election on Saturday.

Retired Justice Adolphus Enebeli, Chief poll Officer of the RSIEC, announced the poll results on Saturday night, stating that the APP had won the chairperson seats in 22 of the 23 LGAs.

This made it quite evident that, in advance of the upcoming elections, Governor Fabara had taken back control of the LG structure.

The APC maintains that no election was place in Rivers.

But the APC insisted that there had never been an election in the state on Saturday night, trashing both the poll and its results.

Ikenga Chibike, the APC publicity secretary for Rivers State, declared that the Federal High Court’s ruling is upholding, calling the recently held election a “cooked-up result” and a mirage.

“As far as the APC is concerned, no election took place in Rivers State on Saturday, thus any announcement made by anyone is a fabricated outcome.

The law is still what it is. It states that RSIEC must adhere to due process if it is to hold a legitimate election, he said.

According to him, the party made the decision to abstain from voting in order to “obey the judgement from the Federal High Court which barred the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, from going ahead with the election.”

“Everything done before this point is invalid, the court had further declared. We did not participate because we are standing by that judgment,” he said.