…Parades candidates’ posters with Tinubu, national chairman’s photos
A melo drama is beginning to unfold in Rivers State again ahead of the August 30 Local Government elections.
The Emeka Bekee-led All Progressives Congress (APC) has suddenly made a U-turn and joined the Local Government race with campaign posters of their candidates designed with the photos of President Bola Tinubu and that of the APC national Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda.
Recall that the Tony Okocha-led APC had flagged off its campaigns for the council polls in Port Harcourt at the weekend after he had, on July 29, 2025, expressed readiness to participate in the polls.
Similarly, the Emeka Bekee faction on the same date vowed to challenge the authority of the State Sole Administrator to conduct the elections, stating that the sole administrator lacks the legal right to organise local government elections. He also noted that his party’s failure to obey the rule of law makes it difficult to determine whether they will participate in the polls or not, but Okocha explained that their decision to participate in the elections is because things are now done properly.
Contacted, the spokesman of Bekee-led APC, Darlington Nwauju, said: “We are contesting, and that’s the much we can say.”
Asked if his group conducted party congresses, he explained that “there are no congresses for emergence of candidates who fly party flags. APC Constitution spells out how candidates must emerge, and we followed our party Constitution.”
A similar scenario played out in 2019 when the Supreme Court ruled and kicked out APC from fielding candidates for the National Assembly, governorship, and State Assembly polls due to multiple litigations arising from various factions of the party on conducting its ward, local government, and state congresses.
While there are only 11 days left for the August 30 proposed Local Government polls, keen political observers are watching to see how the drama will end, as they have urged the President to restore the democratic institutions at the expiration of the six months suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara on September 18, 2025.
