Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has lashed out at the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike over his recent outbursts on the just concluded local government election in the state.
DAILY POST reports that Wike had in an interview on Channels TV on Tuesday expressed resentment on the move by the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara to conduct the Saturday election despite a court judgement.
Recall that Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja had in a judgement declared that the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, violated requisite provisions by not publishing the mandatory 90 days notice before fixing the date for the election.
The court barred the Independent National Electoral Commission from releasing the voter register to RSIEC for the conduct of the election.
Justice Lifu also barred the Inspector General of Police and the Department of State Service, DSS, from providing security for the polls.
The judgment followed the suit brought before the judge by the state chapter of APC, faulting RSIEC’s move to fix October 5 for the polls.
But the election was held on Saturday as directed by Governor Fubara.
The governor’s loyalists who contested the chairmanship positions under the platform of the Action Peoples Party, APP, won in 22 out of the 23 LGAs in the state.
The state has recorded a series of violent clashes between supporters of Wike and Fubara during and after the poll.
On Monday, arsonists alleged to be Wike’s supporters set the Ikwerre Local Government secretariat ablaze.
There were gunshots in some other secretariats following moves by some political thugs to prevent the newly elected council bosses from gaining access to their offices.
Wike, in his first public reaction to the controversies, accused Fubara of derailing Nigerian democracy by refusing to obey the court judgement.
The former governor also alleged that Fubara’s move to remove the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Martin Amaewhule triggered the unending crisis.
However, in a swift response, PDP in the state urged the Minister and his supporters to seek redress in court if they were not okay with the election.
In an exclusive interview with DAILY POST, Sydney Gbara, the PDP publicity secretary in Rivers State wondered why those who were eagerly agitating for the election were now against it.
He said, “We are aware that no court judgement can stop an electoral process. What we know is that if you are not okay with an election, you can approach the court after it is conducted. So they should go to court.
“Let me take Nigerians back, conducting the local government election was one of the items on the presidential peace proclamation made by President Bola Tinubu in 2023. They (Wike and his supporters) have been willing to see the election conducted.
“At one point they even instructed the assembly that if Fubara refuses to conduct the election, he should be impeached. It is now surprising that when the RSIEC drew out the timetable for the election, they are now doing everything possible to stop it.
“This is where the conversation should start from and not whether there was a court judgement or not.
“In fact, it got to a point where the assembly elongated the tenure of the previous LG Chairmen and that was the first of its kind in the history of Nigerian democracy. Now the governor said he is ready for the election and the same people are now speaking from the other side of their mouths, saying the election should not be held.
“Where has Governor Fubara gone wrong? The Supreme Court has given judgement prohibiting caretaker committees and said every state should have elected LG Chairmen and they have a time frame of 90 days or else the state will not get allocation.
“Governor Fubara is just being obedient to the Supreme Court judgment. Anyone who wants to truncate the process does not mean well for Rivers people.”
Sydney Gbara described Fubara as a hero, stressing that “he will continue to be our hero for standing firm to ensure that democracy stands in Rivers State.
“Innocent people were killed in cold blood all in a bid to frustrate the electoral process. The truth is that they came late because Rivers People have decided to move on with Fubara.”