Rivers insists on October 5 for LG polls

The Chairman of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, (RSIEC), Justice, Adolphus Enebeli has reassured that the scheduled October, 5th, 2024 date for the local government Council elections is sacrosanct.

This is as the RSIEC Chairman disclosed that out of nineteen registered political parties, eighteen are participating in the elections with over three hundred contestants.

He noted that the ten days of nationwide hunger protest changed the timetable, while he assured that names of contestants who scaled through the screening will be published between the 23rd and 24th of September, 2024.

Enebeli gave the assurance yesterday during an ongoing Training of Master Trainers for Rivers RSIEC Staff members held at the Justice Mary Odili Institute in Port Harcourt, where he cited the state electoral law and the recent judgement of the Supreme Court which empowers them to conduct the scheduled elections.

The Chairman further emphasized that there is no current judgment or any other impediment against the conduct of the local government council elections, saying that RSIEC as the electoral umpire in the state is fully ready and prepared for the conduct of the elections on October, 5th, 2024.

He said: “As a retired judicial officer, we are well disposed to absorb surprises. One of the ingredients of the legal profession is the ability to accommodate disagreement. This is the essence of democracy and the electoral process that we want to embark on will seek to deepen and sustain democracy.

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“Section 60 subsection 2 of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Law of 2018, spelt it out. Section 15 of the Electoral Act 2023 as Amended, look at it there, INEC has the responsibility to give state electoral umpire voters register.

“There is no judgment as at yet perpetually restraining us from conducting the election. Rivers State people, even the Federal government is enthusiastically expecting us to conduct local government election and so, on the 5th of October 2024, that date, by the grace of God, is as invariable as it is sacrosanct.”

Addressing the Trainers and Master Trainers for Rivers RSIEC Staff members, the RSIEC Chairman described the exercise as an investment that would help the electoral process have integrity.

Justice Enebeli while reminding the master trainers of their roles to train the RSIEC ad-hoc staff and other electoral officers, assured that the commission is determined for a free, fair, credible and violent election free in elections.