The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) has declared candidates of the Action Peoples Party (APP) as winners of the councilorship elections in 314 wards in just-concluded local government elections in the state.
This is as the newly elected chairmen of the 23 local government area councils in the state took their oath of office at Government House, Port Harcourt on Sunday evening.
The chairmanship candidate of Action Alliance (AA) in Etche local government area of the state, Uzodimma Nwafor, has been declared winner of the chairmanship election in the local government area.
RSIEC, in a statement issued on Sunday by the Chief Returning Officer and chairman of the commission, Justice Adolphus Enebeli (Rtd), said other political parties won the remaining seats in the local government legislative elections.
Enebeli stated that while APP won 314 councillorship positions, other political parties, including the All Progressives Congress (APC), the BOOT Party, the Labour Party (LP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as well as the Young Democratic Party (YPP) won one councillorship seats each.
Speaking during the swearing-in of the newly elected council chairmen, Governor Siminalayi Fubara said with the elections now over, the state has now entered into a season of transformation where democracy will not only thrive but the people shall witness delivery of democratic dividends that satisfy their aspirations.
Fubara acknowledged with great delight the support of Rivers people in the fight to salvage the local government system in the state as, according to him, it was at the precipice of doom because of the activities of some disruptive political forces that wanted a grip on it.
He said that the pressure to destroy the local government system in Rivers State became intense three days before Election Day when an attempt was made to invade the RSIEC headquarters.
Fubara said: “But the truth remains, desperate situations require desperate measures. We were confronted with a situation where the local government of this State was heading to doom.
“And the truth about it is, because of the genuine love that we have for this State, we must salvage the local government election.
“And what we did, with the support of Rivers people, was to salvage the local government council. And to the glory of God, that has been done and dusted.”
The governor stated that with the elections now over, in the remainder of the years in office, his administration will not deploy any form of undemocratic ways to confront or fight anybody.
He assured that, rather, he will continue to use the means of peace to ensure that the assets of Rivers State are protected.
Fubara said, “We will assure the Federal Government that we are going to be party to anything leading to breakdown of law and order in this State.
“This is because we know quite alright that if there is breakdown of law and order in this State, Nigeria will suffer, and we are not going to be party to it. That is the reason why our standard, in terms of maturity, was high.”