Politics
Amaechi Hosts Eleme General Assembly
Last week in Government House started on a humanitar
ian note following the donation of skills empowerment equipment to over 200 women and widows by the Obio / Akpor Local Government Council. The wife of Rivers State Governor, Dame Judith Amaechi and Chief of Staff, Government House, Sir Tony Okocha was at hand to handover the equipment.
Dame Judith Amaechi commended the effort of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Obio/Akpor, saying the party was already on the path to victory. She therefore urged beneficiaries of the scheme to be committed in using their crafts to transform their families and society.
On Monday, last week, Director- General Bureau of Public Procurement, Mr Franklin Nlemm briefed Government House Correspondents on the controversy surrounding the purchase of two Automatic Road Analyser Vehicles (ARAN). He said the development has been misconstrued in some quarters, explaining that the law also empowers the agency to act as a regulatory agency.
According to Mr Nlemm, section 50, sub-section three of the law establishing Bopp empowers the agency to call a contractor to order if he or she deviates from specifications. He insisted that the two ARAN vehicles were acquired by the body to further enhance its mandate in ensuring standards in contract execution, especially roads.
In the long run, he believed that the ARAN would improve capacity of road contract execution and at the same time improve quality and save money for the government.
Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon. Chibuike Amaechi returned to the state on Tuesday after attending a Town Hall meeting with Rivers State indigenes abroad in the United States of America.
Before the arrival of the governor, Chief of Staff Government House, Sir Tony Okocha had visited Obio/Akpor Council where he unveiled two new vehicles for the police and another one for non-indigenes in the area.
He commended the authorities of Obio/Akpor Council for assisting the police to fight crime in Woji Community, and for providing means of transportation for non-indigenes in APC within Obio/Akpor area.
Governor Amaechi on Wednesday took time from his tight state schedules to inspect ongoing projects in different parts of the state. Later in the evening, he was at a state banguet in honour of a literary icon, Prof. Wole Soyinka who turned 80 recently.
Describing the Nobel Laureate as a “global adviser,” Amaechi said Soyinka has been consistent in the literary world and continues to bring honour to Nigeria despite its current travails.
He said, “I need to thank you (Prof Soyinka) for accepting the invitation by the Rivers State Government to host you to a dinner. The reason for it is basically the achievements that you have made globally not just in Nigeria”.
Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi who was guest at the dinner also lauded Prof Soyinka, saying Nigerians will not forget his activism as human rights crusader.
Responding, Prof Soyinka thanked the people of Rivers State for the gesture and toasted for democracy, human liberty, freedom, “There for me are the buzz words, believe you me”, he said.
On Thursday, Governor Amaechi played host to the Eleme General Assembly led by the Eleme Monarch, One Eh Eleme, Emere Samuel Ejire and President of Eleme General Assembly, Evangelist Jonah Chujor.
After an address read by Evangelist Chiyor, Governor Amaechi said that government would ensure it brings about lasting peace between Ekporo community in Eleme and Ogu in Ogu/Bolo Local Area.
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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