By kawaekwune Jeffrey
Tension has continued to escalate in Rivers State as hundreds of protesters stormed the secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday.
The protest comes ahead of the Local Government election scheduled for October 5, 2024.
Reports reaching the New Diplomat revealed that the protesters took off from the PDP secretariat along Aba Road Port Harcourt, after which they marched down to the State DSS facility at Old GRA, where they submitted a protest petition, then they proceeded to the Government House.
The New Diplomat reports that the protesters were armed with placards displaying inscriptions such as; “Say no to lawlessness,”; “Say no to LGA election,”; and “RSIEC must obey court judgment. SIM must obey court judgment”.
It was also gathered that the protest is been led by members of the PDP believed to be loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
This is coming amid palpable tension in Rivers following the raging war and supremacy battle between Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers and Wike, a two-term governor of Rivers State.
The battle has escalated beyond control in the midst of an upcoming local government election as the two heavyweights fight dirty for control of the grassroots.
It would be recalled also that on September 30, 2024, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja delivered a ruling barring INEC from releasing the voters’ register to RSIEC due to ongoing legal challenges.
Justice Lifu issued the order while delivering judgment on a suit brought before him by the All Progressives Congress(APC) in Rivers State.
He also held that the Rivers State electoral body violated the provisions of the local government election law by failing to publish the mandatory 90-day notice before fixing the election date.
However, in another ruling, the Federal High Court in Rivers State gave its full judicial nod to the RSIEC to proceed as scheduled with its planned conduct of local government Council election in the State.
The presiding judge, Justice I.P.C. Igwe declared that there’s no going back on the Rivers Local Government election on October 5th as scheduled.
Justice Igwe gave this while ruling on the suit instituted by the Action Peoples Party(APP).
Fubara, in his reaction, assured that the election would proceed as planned. He argued that the Supreme Court’s earlier decision, mandating that all states in Nigeria must have democratically elected local government executives, supports his administration’s resolve to conduct the elections.
Fubara declared: “We cannot allow a legal technicality to deprive the people of their right to elect their leaders at the grassroots. The Supreme Court has spoken clearly about the need for democratic governance at all levels, and Rivers State will not be an exception.”
