A large number of irate Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members stormed the party’s headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, on Thursday, October 3, opposing the planned conduct of the local government area election by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC)
They also proceeded to the State Security Service (SSS) office in the state capital to vent their anger at the planned exercise.
The election, scheduled for Saturday, October 5, has further exacerbated the crisis between the state Governor Siminalayi Fubura and his predecessor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
Both leaders belong to the PDP but Wike is one of the leading cabinet members of President Bola Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC) government.
The ICIR reports that Wike’s bid to control the PDP structure in the state has pitched him against a successor he helped to power.
The feud resulted in 27 out of the state’s 32 House of Assembly members defecting from the PDP to the APC.
Fubara has since worked with only five members loyal to him as the pro-Wike lawmakers battle for their seats at the Assembly and seek to impeach the governor.
The demonstrators on Thursday reportedly moved across several parts of the state capital with different placards carrying inscriptions which condemned the state government’s insistence on going ahead with the poll after a Federal High Court in Abuja halted it.
Daily Trust quoted one of the protesters, John Amadi, at the SSS office as saying, “We are members of PDP and are here at DSS office to protest against Saturday’s local government area election in Rivers State.
“There was a court judgement barring both the DSS and police from providing security during the election. We want to let them know that PDP will not participate in the election and that the security agencies should equally obey the court order by not providing security for the election.”
The ICIR gathered that the APC has also vowed not to participate in the exercise.
Receiving the demonstrators, the police and SSS in their respective offices advised them to be law-abiding and not take the law into their own hands.
Multiple reports indicate that Fubara’s loyalists are vying for the LGA election on the All Peoples Party’s (APP) in a subtle move to defect from the PDP.
On Wednesday, October 2, The ICIR reported how Fubara declared a two-day public holiday for the poll.
Fubara said the holiday would enable the state’s people to travel to the communities where they would cast their ballots.
He said he resolved that RSIEC go ahead with the election believing that the Supreme Court’s July 2024 ruling on local governments’ autonomy superseded the Abuja Federal High Court stopping the poll.
He called on security agents in the state to ensure the exercise was free, fair and credible, as he restricted human and vehicular movements on election day from midnight on Friday to 5 pm on Saturday.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ [email protected]