The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) has announced that the local government elections scheduled for Saturday will be held regardless of how events unfold.
Naija News recalls that the Nigeria Police Force issued a statement on Friday saying it would withdraw its personnel from the electoral process following the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja to suspend the election.
However, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt by the Secretary for Civic Education and Public Relations, Reverend Tamnotonye Tobins, on Saturday morning, RSIEC assured that the elections will be held as scheduled.
Tobins said the committee was successful in getting unclassified materials to polling places across the state.
He also said the updated 2023 voter rolls are accessible at all 6,366 polling places in the state.
Mr. Tobins emphasized the importance of the election campaign and emphasized that it is in line with the directive issued by the Supreme Court of Nigeria to the RSIEC.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Governor, Siminiarai Hubara, expressed strong dissatisfaction with the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, early on Friday morning following the incident at the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RISIEC) office.
The governor, who arrived at the RISIEC grounds around 1 a.m. along with government officials, was responding to reports that armed police had taken control of the Election Commission facility.
Governor Tomihara was visibly upset and directly criticized the IGP for what he called the unwarranted police deployment.
According to the governor, the police officers deployed to guard the RISIEC office were withdrawn by the Deputy Commissioner for Operations, leaving room for another team of police officers to take over.
Hubala expressed her dissatisfaction and accused the police of overstepping their limits.
He further referred to the court’s ruling, stressing that it does not prohibit the holding of elections, but only restricts access to voter rolls.
Hubala refused to back down, insisting the election would go ahead as scheduled even without police security.
