LG Elections: D-Day Arrives
• Rivers people to choose grassroots representatives
By PHC Telegraph
Rivers people would be voting today to elect local government chairmen as well as councillors whose responsibility in the days to come would be to man council administrations.
If all goes well, the new rulers of the grassroots, offshoots of Nyesom Wike’s political structure, would be expected to remain in office for three years.
The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, charged with the responsibility of organising free and fair elections appears ready.
Its officials including ad hoc staff would this morning arrive polling units across the State, according to RSIEC’s official projections.
Despite initial concerns expressed by INEC, RSIEC is seemingly going ahead with the conduct of elections which critics insist do not comply substantially with dictates of the Electoral Act.
In the past, result sheets never got to the polling units. Will the result sheets get there this time?
Will they be originals or photocopies? Or will they be discreetly handed over to those used in the past to perfect results?
Will votes be counted on the spot and results declared at the unit, ward and local government level? Or will there be attempts to stuff the ballot box?
Only RSIEC and those who have been deployed to the field to organise this round of elections would be able to provide answers which will enhance the credibility of the electoral process or tarnish it.
Friday, the security forces went round Port Harcourt. What the people saw was more like a show of force, and a clear warning of what to expect on election day.
Security agencies would be firm and trouble makers won’t be spared from what we have gathered.
Although about 17 political parties are purportedly participating in the local exercise, not many in Rivers State think there is anything at stake.
“This is more or less like a mock exam. The actual test will take place in 2027. In the meantime, they have the opportunity to find something for the boys”, a well known political observer noted.
“Rivers people would take back their state someday. No amount of intimidation will stop them”, a reliable source said in Port Harcourt.
IPAC had vowed earlier that its members in Rivers State will not participate in the LGA election.
But a high court has reportedly given a ruling which says RSIEC has the right to go ahead with the conduct of today’s LGA elections
The President, we have equally heard has suspended aspects of the electoral law to enable RSIEC to conduct elections at a time of emergency rule.
That is the background as Rivers people go to the polls.The outcome of the elections, many say would be largely predictable.
Already, some of those who admit local election results are written have bragged about it in the open.
In fact, Rivers people have rarely voted as they ought to in a proper democracy, and their votes have not really mattered in any way when they are counted.
This might help to explain the level of scepticism that would-be voters exhibit in times such as this; why the Rivers State progressively continues to record low voter turnout; and why the people are fast losing interest in matters like this.
Political observers predict nonetheless that the election would likely go the way it has been planned by persons who are part of the ‘selectorate’, not necessarily the way the electorate would possibly want it.
Professor Chidi Odinkalu has written about the Selectorate, stating that those who occupy office are selected not elected.
Whatever happens, results will be announced after polling is concluded today.
There would also be jubilation in parts of Rivers State when results start pouring in, especially among supporters of ex-governor Wike who gathered in the State capital on Thursday after open air campaigns ended.
Rivers patriots pray as voters file out today that the local council elections would take place peacefully.
They equally pray that the outcome of the local government elections would hopefully pave the way for the return of the peoples’ governor.