Obi condemns election Edo PDP rejects alleged planned council by-elections
The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) has issued Certificates of Return to the 23 chairmen and councillors-elect who won in their various local council areas in the August 30 local council elections.
The certificates were presented to the winners at the RSIEC office in Port Harcourt by the Commission’s Chairman, Michael Odey. During the ceremony, Odey congratulated the winners and advised them to honour the trust reposed in them by the people. He urged aggrieved contestants to seek redress through legal means, emphasising the importance of upholding the rule of law.
Odey assured that the Commission would conduct a post-mortem analysis of its performance to identify areas for improvement.
Speaking on behalf of the new chairmen, the Chairman of Port Harcourt City Council, Alwell Ihunda, expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu, the Rivers State Administrator, Ibok Ette Ibas, and the security agencies for ensuring a smooth electoral process.
ALSO, the state administrator, retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, yesterday, swore in the 23 newly elected council chairmen, charging for them to reject self-interest and embrace a new era of transparent, accountable, and reform-driven leadership for the people.
The swearing-in ceremony, held at the Government House in Port Harcourt, marks a pivotal milestone in the state’s journey to restore full democratic governance following the period of political turbulence that necessitated federal intervention.
HOWEVER, the former Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has condemned the Rivers State local council election, describing it as “a desecration of democracy” and a dangerous precedent for governance in Nigeria.
In a post on his X handle on Sunday, Obi faulted the exercise, which was supervised by a Sole Administrator whose own appointment has been the subject of controversy. He argued that the process stripped the people of their constitutional right to choose their leaders, but instead entrenched illegality.
“The conduct of the Rivers State local council election is rascality taken too far,” Obi declared. “It represents a double tragedy for our democracy when a Sole Administrator—himself illegally appointed—dares to conduct an election that should empower the people. This is not democracy; it is the outright desecration of its very foundation.”
MEANWHILE, the Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the planned local council by-elections in the state, describing the exercise as illegal, unconstitutional, and a dangerous affront to democratic norms.
In a statement issued in Benin City yesterday and signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary (Caretaker Committee), Chris Osa Nehikhare, the PDP accused the organisers of the alleged by-elections, the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC), of staging a “kangaroo exercise” without legal backing.
The statement said: “The attention of the PDP, Edo State, has been drawn to the recent announcement of purported dates for bye-elections into local councils in our state,” the statement read. “We categorically state that such a move is illegal, unconstitutional, and a blatant disregard of a subsisting court order.”
According to the PDP, the body claiming to organise the elections is “unknown to law” and lacks the constitutional authority to conduct such polls.
The party also pointed out that the state currently has elected councillors in all 192 wards, whose tenure does not expire until September 2026. The party expressed deep concern over what it sees as a consistent pattern of governance in Edo State marked by “open breach of the law, utter contempt for judicial pronouncements, and total disregard for democratic norms.”
