• CSOs to boycott local councilelection without Fubara’s return

President Bola Tinubu’s appointment of Dr Michael Odey, from Cross River State, to chair the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission board has stirred controversy among Rivers’ residents.

According to the residents, at a time when trust in government institutions is fragile and tempers remain high over the declaration of a State of Emergency in the state, they wished that a qualified ‘unifier’ from the state was appointed.

A policy analyst and Convener of the Rivers Peace Initiative, Obinna Ebogidi, in his reaction, stated that the collective focus and interest in the state should shift from personalities to processes.

He said: “What truly matters now is ensuring that the forthcoming local council elections are free, fair, credible, and in accordance with the law.

“Our people deserve leaders whose legitimacy is not in doubt, leaders chosen by the ballot, not by appointment. That is the surest path to restoring democratic governance and public confidence at the grassroots level.”

MEANWHILE, a coalition of civil society organisations in Rivers State has peacefully protested what they described as the continued entrenchment of the anti-democratic process in the state.

The protesters, who took off their procession from Wogu Street, in Dline, Port Harcourt, marched to the Government House yesterday. The peaceful protesters brandished banners calling for the reinstatement of the executive and legislative arms of government.

Presenting the protest letter to security officials at the Government House, Courage Nsirimovu, representing the coalition, which included Pilex Centre For Civic Education Initiative, The Peoples Advocates, Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre, WRAPA, and Concerned Civil Society Organisations, emphasised that it is their position, by the relevant sections of the Nigerian Constitution, that only an elected governor can appoint RSIEC board/Chairman and conduct local council elections.

He emphasised that the people of Rivers State and Nigeria would boycott any attempt by any other authority whatsoever to conduct the said election illegally.

The protesters drew parallels between the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election and the current situation in Rivers State, where democracy was suspended by President Bola Tinubu.

They argued that the President acted beyond his constitutional powers when he suspended democracy in the state, citing the Supreme Court’s ruling in A.G. Federation v A.G. Lagos State, which stated that the President doesn’t have the power to remove an elected governor.

They said, unlike Benue and Plateau states, Rivers State had not degenerated into a breakdown of law and order or war to necessitate the declaration of a state of emergency.