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By Kolawole Ojebisi
The local government elections in Rivers State may have come and gone with results announced and names of declared winners made public but the last about the exercise may not have been heard.
As expected in some quarters, prominent members in the opposition parties have rejected the results of the elections while others believe it’s just a sheer waste of time and energy as nothing like elections happened on Saturday, October 5.
The faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory,(FCT), Nyesom Wike, in the Rivers State Peoples Democratic Party,(PDP), has vowed to challenge the results of the elections in court.
According to the faction, what took place on Saturday was nothing short of a charade stressing that participants in the exercise were mere clowns.
Speaking to journalists hours after the election winners were sworn in, the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kenneth Yowika, said the party would not take outcome of the elections lightly.
Yowika noted that the conduct of the poll would be challenged in court in due time.
‘’We are pressing further through the courts to ensure that justice is done and seen to have been done. So, we do not agree nor do we recognize if any swearing-in is taking place today (Sunday) or tomorrow (Monday),” he asserted.
Yowika said from the beginning, the ruling party in the state had insisted on adhering to the Federal High Court judgment barring the conduct of the council poll, pointing out that what the state government did was illegal.
Yowika said:”First of all everything concerning that issue is illegal. We have said it clearly that elections should not be held, you know, relying on the Federal High Court judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu.
“And I had said before this time that any action taken regarding the issue of the local government will be futile because if we say we are a country that stands by the rule of law, then we should not be doing things that are contrary to the law.
“The law had said do things that will be in line with the judgment of the Federal High Court and the Government of the day has not obeyed that.
“So, we are a law-abiding party. We are not going to come out physically to begin to fight. We had a protest yesterday (Saturday) clearly showing that there was no election.
“And we stand by that decision that we have taken that there was no election, and we wait for the judiciary and other arms of government that should put things in proper perspective to act. We continue to hold on that there was no election.”
“We visited the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission yesterday and clearly, the world saw that there was no election there. So, we stand by the ruling of the Federal High Court which said that that election should not go on.
“Well, they went ahead to do whatever charade people saw and that is not acceptable by the Peoples Democratic Party. Like we said we are a law-abiding party, and we stand to remain that.” Yowika added.
Speaking in a similar vein, , Chibuike Ikenga, Publicity Secretary of the Chief Tony Okocha-led APC insisted on the Federal High Court judgment which restrained the state government from conducting the poll.
Ikenga also said the swearing-in of the election winners ‘is neither here nor there,’ saying the party is pressing further through with the law.
“As a party, we insist on obeying the decisions of the Federal High Court under Justice Peter Lifu. And that is the reason why we did not acknowledge that any election ever took place. But the government is known for disobedience of court order went ahead. So, they are on their own.
“Our position is that you cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand. So, whether anybody has been sworn in or not is secondary, we are not aware and we are not interested in whether it is taking place today (Sunday) or tomorrow (Monday).
“We are pressing further through the courts to ensure that justice is done and seen to have been done. So, we do not agree nor do we recognize if any swearing-in is taking place today or tomorrow,’’ he stated.
Asked if the party will return to the court based on the latest developments, he said, ‘’The state government already took the matter to the Court of Appeal where they asked for a stay and the stay was refused. So, the matter is on at the Court of Appeal.”
However, the faction of the APC loyal to a former Minister of Transportation, Rt Hon Rotimi Amaechi, received the outcomes of the elections with utmost satisfaction stressing that it’s a reflection of the desires of the people of Rivers State.
The faction noted that the state is bigger than any person or individual regardless of the person’s real or supposed power of influence.
According to the faction, there’s nothing contestable about the exercise, nothing deserving of litigation.
Asked if the faction is not bothered that the the candidates of the All Peoples Party(APP) swept all the chairmanship seats in the state except one in the elections, Chizi Enyi, who is the Chief of Staff to the APC Chairman, Emeka Beke, said the party did not lose out because it won a councillor slot.
“The APC won the council slot. We are satisfied with the election held. Our biggest worry was those who said the election should not be held. So, we accept the outcome and we will not litigate it,” he said.
The Rivers State Commissioner for Environment and immediate past Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Sydney Gbara, also expressed satisfaction with the election, describing it as the freest and fairest election in the history of the state.
Gbara said: “Yes, I’m very satisfied and I can tell you that this is the freest and fairest and most peaceful election that has been conducted in Rivers State so far. The most striking thing about the election is that there was no police security yet everywhere was peaceful. That is the most interesting thing about the election.
“This is the best election that Rivers people came all out to participate in because they know that their future depends on yesterday’s election.”
Asked why he was excited even though his party did not win any slot, he said the interest of the state is paramount.
Gbara stated: “It is unfortunate that my party withdrew from the contest but as a Rivers man, the interest of the state supersedes any other interest, any personal or individual or group interest.
“For me, it is a step of liberation for the Rivers people and it is a day we have all been waiting for.”
Prior to the Saturday local government elections, the state was under tense atmosphere following the supremacy battle between the incumbent governor, Siminalayi Fubara and his erstwhile ally and the immediate past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike.
The rift between the duo fragmented the party into two camps.
The Wike camp vigorously canvassed against the conduct of the elections while the Fubara faction insisted the elections must be held.
This differing positions of both camps led to legal tussles with each securing Court verdicts to support its position.
The Wike group held on to a September 30 ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja that ordered that the elections must not be conducted.
The ruling also asked the Nigeria Police Force not to take part in the exercise. On the other hand, the Pro Fubara camp insisted that a State High Court ruling in Port Harcourt which gave nod for the conduct of the scheduled elections was the right way to go.
In early hours of Friday, men dressed in police uniform attempted to gain entry forcefully into the premises of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission. (RSIEC).
The attempt was botched by security operatives who accompanied governor Fubara to the RSIEC office
It’s believed that the attempt, orchestrated by some politicans, was meant to cart away electoral materials.
Despite the tense atmosphere and claims and counter-claims, the elections were eventually held on Saturday.
Though the elections were marked by eruptions and violence in some quarters, it was deemed conclusive and results announced.
The Action Peoples Party secured 22 out of 23 chairmanship positions, while the Action Alliance candidate won one seat.
The APP also won 314 out of the 319 councillorship seats in the 23 LGAs in the state.
The APP is believed to be Fubara’s party
After losing control of the PDP to Wike, Fubara’s supporters switched to the APP to realize their ambitions.
