APC vows to oppose ‘lawless’ Rivers LG election

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, led by Tony Okocha, has alleged that the processes for the October 5, Local Government elections are flawed and against the law and has vowed to oppose it.

Okocha said, as bonafide citizens of the State, the APC members would not sit and watch Governor Siminalayi Fubara drift the state to lawlessness.

Okocha, who is the APC Caretaker Committee Chairman in Rivers State, said the party is eligible to contest elections and stated that it decided not to contest under circumstances where the court stated that the processes were flawed.

Okocha, who was with other members of the Committee, stated this in Port Harcourt on Wednesday.

He added that the elections under such a scenario would be a charade because the governor was pushing an agenda.

“Should we submit to an attempt to obliterate APC in Rivers State? Should we concede to the desperation of one man to annihilate APC in Rivers State? The answer would be no,” he said.

Controversies have continued to trail the Local Council polls scheduled to be held this Saturday.

The APC led by Emeka Beke, an APC camp loyal to the former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, on Tuesday, declared interest in participating in the election, describing it as a good development.

But the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Okocha-led APC have vowed to boycott the polls, stating that the processes were flawed.

But the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), said there was no going back on Saturday’s election, noting that they are 100 percent prepared with all the sensitive and nonsensitive materials.

RSIEC Commissioner in charge of Civic education, Tamunotonye Tobins, argued that the Okocha-led APC and PDP had persistently called for the conduct of the LG election and expressed dismay over their sudden rescind.

Speaking further, Okocha however, implored the federal government as the leader of the three tiers of government to intervene to ensure that rule of law is obeyed to restore peace.

Also speaking, the CTC Publicity Secretary of APC, Chibuike Ikenga, said the APC led by Okocha looked into all the processes especially the litigations against RSIEC on the conduct of the election, and decided to stay out.