APC Vows to Oppose Rivers Oct. 5 LG Election

The All Progressives Con­gress (APC) in Rivers State led by Chief Tony Okocha has vowed to oppose the forthcoming local govern­ment elections, slated for Saturday, October 5, in the state.

The party hinged its stance on the fact that the electoral body conducting the elections, the Rivers State Independent Elector­al Commission (RSIEC) refused to adhere to the nec­essary legal requirements, including the pre 90-day notice to all stakeholders as mandated by the law.

Briefing journalists in Port Harcourt on Wednes­day, Chief Okocha, who is the APC Caretaker Commit­tee Chairman, recognised by the National Working Committee of the party, ac­cused Governor Siminalayi Fubara of drifting the state to a state of lawlessness and disobedience to court or­ders, emphasising that the APC cannot allow such to continue.

Okocha said, "Rivers State is drifting to a state of lawlessness because of fla­grant impunity of one man who is self-seeking.

"The governor of Rivers State has ruled and contin­ued to rule this state with impunity. The governor is at the verge of adopting a self-right approach at the chagrin of all of us in Riv­ers State.

"I'm worried, because reading through philoso­phers of note, you will hear one of them saying that in a state of anarchy, it becomes illegal to be law abiding.

"As members of the APC, we have exhausted all the legal means, and we will not stand akimbo, watch him drift this state to abys­mal oblivion by the reason of trying to push across his personal idiosyncrasies.

"APC is a party in gov­ernment at the centre and we need to let our party, the president and members of the National Assembly know our plight. Should we submit to an attempt to en­velope APC in Rivers State, or concede to the deliberate attempt by one man to anni­hilate APC in Rivers State? The answer is no."

Chief Okocha criticised the governor's recent visit to the RSIEC's headquarters in Port Harcourt to give orders to the electoral body on the proposed exercise, describ­ing it as an act of despera­tion and ridiculousness.

He said instead of the Rivers State government and RSIEC to go to appeal court to upturn the judg­ment of Justice Peter Lifu, they decided to toe the part of illegality.

"Under what law is this local government election going to hold. What is the appropriation and who ap­propriated the funds for the local government elections to hold? So, you see illegality and impunities on this.

"Seeing the level of des­peration of the governor, af­ter the judgment of the Fed­eral High Court got to him on Monday, he drove straight to RSIEC office to tell them that they should continue with the election process and to say that if they see any security agency there that he will deal with them. That he is both the governor of the state and chairman of RSIEC.

"If the governor is the chairman of RSIEC, does it not confirm that we can't be comfortable contesting the same election he is interest­ed in delivering his interest? Shall we take this absurd and when will it end?

"We will not sit down and watch the governor drift this state to lawlessness. We are bona fide citizens of Rivers State, and we also have the same right and privileges any­one else can decide to have."

Speaking further, Okocha said, "APC is eligible and ready to contest elections, but not under this circum­stance, and the court has agreed with us that the pro­cesses were flawed and that election under that scenario will be a charade, and that's where we stand.

"We are here as a party and its representatives to say that we will not accept this impunity, and we draw the attention of these agencies responsible for this. We want the media to tell the world that we will oppose the gov­ernor's planned impunity."

In a separate development, the Independent Nation­al Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Riv­ers State, Dr. Johnson Alali­bo Sinikiem, has revealed that the commission has not handed over the state voters register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Com­mission (RSIEC) contrary to claims that the latter is in possession of the register.