Politics
Rivers People Support Amaechi’s 2nd Term Bid
The Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi’s indication to contest for second term on Tuesday may have earned him overwhelming support from the people of the state.
Already, the people of the state both within and in diaspora are warming up for a two million man march next month to adopt the state governor as a consensus candidate for the 2011 governorship election in the state.
A cross section of politicians, businessmen, PDP chieftains have eulogised the towering democratic profile of the state administration under Rt. Hon. Chibuike R. Amaechi. Within the last three years, Prince Tonye Princewill former Action Congress leader in Rivers State said he was happy and overwhelmed about Amaechi’s acceptance to contest the 2011 general election.
In a statement signed by his Media Assistant, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze insisted that Engr. Princewill had promised to buy the intent and expression form for Amaechi in appreciation of his leadership virtues of bringing democratic dividend nearer to the people in the state.
The statement said Tonye Princewill’s Campaign Organisation across the state would do everything to ensure that the Governor won in the 2011 general election.
He advised those who would want to contest against the governor both in the PDP primaries and the general election to look for something better to do as the man of destiny had come out to complete some of the great works he had initiated.
According to him, only few politicians could do what Amaechi was doing for Rivers State “Amaechi is working for tomorrow and the glory of Rivers State he said.
Tonye Princewill and his supporters had last month set up a campaign team for Amaechi in preparation for the forth coming 2011 general election.
The campaign team, The Tide learnt is saddled with the responsibility of working and providing road map for the re-election of Amaechi in the general election.
Mrs. Peace Nwabudu Lucky-Ideozu also commended the governor for accepting people’s mandate for a second term.
Ideozu who is aspiring for the State House of Assembly under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said the people of the state were happy as the governor declared his intention to recontest and urged others to join hands to return the governor.
She said the return of Amaechi would ensure not only the completion of most of the projects but to complete the monorail and sustain other projects and keep a good and transparent records for the state.
Comrade Waite Harry joined others to commend the governor’s bold step and praised the people for convincing the governor for accepting a mandate.
Also, Comrade Clifford Paul, the Branch Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) expressed happiness that the governor had yielded to the popular demand of the people.
Mr. Paul said the (NULGE) in Rivers State is happy because during the tenure of Amaechi, the local government councils in the state did not witness zero allocation; as it was with the past administration in the state.
Prof. Amupitan gave the warning on Saturday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the South-South Zonal Readiness Assessment and Interactive Staff Engagement organised ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said insecurity remained a potential challenge to the electoral process but stressed that the Commission would not allow threats against its personnel to undermine its constitutional responsibilities.
“Insecurity may pose a challenge, but our collective constitutional resolve is far stronger. Let me again send a clear message from Port Harcourt: anyone who attempts to threaten, intimidate, or harm our ad-hoc staff, NYSC members, or permanent personnel will be brought to justice under the full weight of the law,” he said.
The INEC Chairman, who was accompanied by National Commissioners, directors and technical aides, disclosed that the South-South engagement was the fifth in a series of zonal assessments, following similar exercises in the South-West, North-West, South-East and North-East.
He explained that his physical presence across the geopolitical zones reflected the Commission’s field-first approach, emphasising that electoral integrity must be established through effective operations at the grassroots.
According to him, the assessment would cover operational preparedness across the 123 Local Government Areas in the six South-South states.
On election security, Prof. Amupitan said INEC had moved away from reactive security arrangements traditionally activated around election day to a proactive, intelligence-driven framework known as the “ICCES Tentacle”.
He explained that the framework was designed to extend inter-agency security coordination from national and state headquarters to local government areas and Registration Area Centres, including remote communities.
He identified three critical pillars of the framework as mapping and mitigating security threats, protecting electoral personnel and infrastructure, and guaranteeing safe access to polling units.
The INEC boss said the security arrangement would provide comprehensive protection for electoral personnel, technological infrastructure, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and server infrastructure, as well as voters.
He added that the framework was intended to ensure that every polling unit, irrespective of its geographical location or history of security challenges, remained safe and accessible for the exercise of democratic rights.
Prof. Amupitan disclosed that the South-South security architecture comprised approximately 60 major operational formations, headquarters and state commands operating under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The network, he said, brings together military, naval, air, police and other security and intelligence agencies across the six states.
“Together, this integrated multi-agency network represents the operational backbone that guarantees intelligence-led protection across every riverine creek, coastal axis, and land-based polling unit in the Niger Delta,” he stated.
Providing an overview of the region’s electoral significance, the INEC Chairman said the South-South had the fourth-largest voting bloc in the country, with 15,823,550 registered voters, representing 15.30 per cent of the national register.
Rivers State alone, he said, accounts for 3,736,434 registered voters spread across the 23 local government areas.
Alhaji Abubakar made the demand following revelations that some INEC registration officers allegedly abused their access to the voter registration system to introduce irregular records into the database.
In a statement issued by his Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Phrank Shaibu, the former vice-president described the development as a serious breach of the Commission’s internal safeguards and raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
He urged INEC to identify the officials implicated in the alleged misconduct and explain what disciplinary or legal measures had been taken against them.
Alhaji Abubakar also called for an independent forensic audit of the preliminary voters’ register to establish the scale of the alleged manipulation, identify affected records and determine how the questionable entries were introduced into the system.
He further insisted that INEC preserve all relevant voter records, image files, system access logs and electronic audit trails to prevent the destruction or alteration of evidence before an independent examination could be conducted.
The former vice-president also demanded that the Commission disclose the identities of companies contracted to produce sensitive election materials ahead of the 2027 polls, arguing that transparency was essential to building public confidence in the electoral process.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had earlier disclosed during a television interview that some registration officers across the country allegedly used their official login credentials to introduce irregularities into the voters’ database.
Dr Bayode explained that the Commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System helped identify questionable records and establish how some irregularities entered the system.
He, however, clarified that not all suspicious photographs were AI-generated, as some resulted from poor registration procedures.
The development followed public concerns over suspected AI-generated photographs, alleged duplicate entries and other inconsistencies discovered in the preliminary voters’ register published online on October 26, 2026.
INEC has maintained that the published document is a preliminary register and that it is reviewing questionable records ahead of the certification of the final Register of Voters.
The controversy has intensified calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of the voters’ register as preparations gather momentum for the 2027 general elections.
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