By Kolawole Ojebisi
Those who have been waiting with bated breath for the denouement which the ongoing political drama in Rivers State will “throw up” on the election day following weeks of profound plots and suspense may have had something to feast on .
This is following the reports coming from the “Garden City” State in respect of some coring centers of the ongoing local government elections.
The New Diplomat gathered that some police officers armed to the teeth in about 20 patrol vans reportedly cause some crowd to disperse at Elekahia Primary School, Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital.
The police officers reportedly fired teargass into the premises of the primary school, and the electorate taking turns to exercise their franchise started running Helter skelter finding where to take cover from blinding flames.
It was gathered that the RSIEC officials at the venue were the target of the supposed police officers as many of the electoral materials were forcefully collected from them.
Some of the “police officers” who were reportedly masked were also said to have asked the officials to remove their vest and hand it to them.
One of the policemen was heard saying, ‘”Come here, remove that vest. What are you doing here? Common move!”
There has been palpable tension in Rivers State occasioned by the rift between Governor Fubara and his erstwhile ally, who is the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
The battle for supremacy between the duo has fragmented the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into two factions.
The Wike faction is canvassing against the conduct of local government elections across the state, while the Fubara faction is insisting that the election must be held.
Earlier, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) commenced the distribution of sensitive materials to LGAs for the conduct of the election.
In the early hours of Saturday, voting commenced in several LGAs, with voters casting ballots in some polling units while others awaited election materials’ arrival.
However, while the preparation for the election was in top gear, an explosion reportedly rocked the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress(APC) faction led by Tony Okocha, the ex-chairman of the APC caretaker committee in the state,
This further thickened the raging feud between the two major political actors which has spilled over to the opposition All Progressives Congress(APC) in the state.
The Okocha faction of the APC is in support of Wike while the Beke/Amaechi faction has thrown its weight behind the Fubara faction.
On Friday, the Rivers State Police command withdrew its men guarding the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) office.
The command, through the police commissioner, said the decision was taken following directive from headquarters.
According to the command , a federal high court in Abuja has barred the inspector-general of police and the Department of State Services (DSS) from providing security for the exercise.
Fubara, however, said the election would be held without the participation of the Nigeria Police Force, citing what happened in Anambra as a precedent.
The governor alleged that IGP was acting out the script provided him by his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, to thwart his efforts at conducting the local government elections.
