The umbrella body of all registered political parties in Nigeria, the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has thrown its weight behind the forthcoming local government elections in Rivers State scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 5, 2024.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) faction in River State led by the Caretaker Committee chairman Tony Okocha, which is loyal to the former governor of Rivers State and now minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, Nyesom Wike had obtained an Abuja high court injunction stopping the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from providing the 2023 voters register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for the election. The court also barred security agents from providing security for the elections.
However, Rivers State governor Simi Fubara insisted, in a state broadcast, that the election must go ahead as RSIEC is already set for it.
However, the conduct of the election received a boost when IPAC said it was ready for the exercise.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the IPAC national chairman, Yusuf Mamman Dantalle said, “You are aware that the Rivers State Independence Electoral Commission (RSIEC) has scheduled to conduct Local Government elections in the State on Saturday 5th October 2024, in all the 23 Local Government Areas of the State.
Political parties have since submitted their nomination forms and complied with the guidelines and regulations for the conduct of the election and assured it would be free, fair, credible, transparent, peaceful and inclusive.
“Be assured that political parties and their candidates for the positions of Chairman, deputy chairman, and councilor have prepared and are ready to participate in the election as scheduled. There is no going back in this critical exercise that will further deepen the nation’s democracy at the grassroots level. And consistent with recent landmark ruling of the Supreme Court on local government autonomy meant to bring development and government to the grassroots.”
He said that IPAC backs the Rivers State local government election and all other elections across the country. “What the Council strongly condemned was the high cost of nomination fees, which was aimed at excluding credible aspirants who could not afford the outrageous fees, as well as sudden change of electoral laws to undermine the national leadership of political parties and subvert the electoral process. We maintain that it is inappropriate to change the rule and goal post in the middle of the game and or take undue advantages against fellow contestants,” he added.
He said that elections cannot be stopped by “judicial fiat in favour of political actors, jobbers and hirelings in pursuit of their inordinate ambitions. This was what truncated the June 12, 1993 presidential election adjudged to be the freest election in the country when some political clowns surreptitiously procured an order of the court to stop the much-expected presidential election meant to usher in a democratic government after years of military rule.”