Politics
Wike Tasks Monarchs On Anti-Soot War
Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has directed that traditional rulers in the state should exert due surveillance to check the activities of illegal oil refining in their domains, adding that any negligence on the issue would amount to complicity in the act. Governor Wike pointed out that any traditional ruler who failed to act on government directives would forfeit his stool.
Governor Wike who gave the directive during a meeting with traditional rulers at the Banquet Hall, Government House, Port Harcourt, said Rivers State Government was resolute on the war against illegal refining despite the challenges faced as a result of Federal Government’s negligence and compromised security system. He urged traditional rulers to work with Community Development Committees and other community-based organisations to achieve the objective of stemming the menace of illegal oil refining in the state which has obvious health implcations on the lives of the people.
Governor Wike berated the Federal Government over its indifference towards curbing the menace of illegal oil refining despite its control over the oil and gas industry.
He pointed out that the act of illegal oil refining has equally led to the depletion of of the revenue profile of Rivers State because the state could not produce its required capacity.
Governor Wike regretted the fact that most security operatives lobby their posting to Rivers State to benefit from illegal oil refining.
He said the Rivers State Government would soon pubish the names of those involved in the act and declare them wanted while security operatives involved in the act would be reported to the appropriate quarters.
Earlier within the week, Governor Wike had at a meeting with the chairmen of the 23 LGAs of the state urged the chairmen to destroy all illegal refining sites across the state and called on the Commissioner of Police to provide adequate security for the chairmen to destroy all identfied illegal refining sites while the Rivers State Government would provide the needed logistics for the LGA chairmen to carry out the objectives.
Meanwhile, Governor Wike on Monday hosted his colleagues in the PDP Governors Forum. The outcome of the meeting was a nine-point communique read by the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. High point of the resolution was to address the urgency required to conclude deliberations on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill which the PDP Governors requested the National Assembly to consider overriding President Buhari’s veto as an option towards achieving the intended electoral reforms for the country.
The Forum urged Nigerians to vote out the APC’s mal governance in the country, which has inflicted untold economic hardship and festering insecurity in the country.
By: Beemene Taneh
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.
-
Opinion4 days ago
Ancestorial Worship: My Take (1)
-
Education18 hours agoPAMO MEDICAL UNIVERSITY -Nullifies Arrest warrant on VC
-
Niger Delta19 hours ago
PANDEF Seeks 50% Oil Derivation Allocation Increase
-
Rivers17 hours ago
Don Seeks Repositioning Of Tech Education For Dev
-
Education18 hours agoIAUE MOVES TO END GHOST WORKERS SYNDROME AS 400 NEW NON-TEACHING STAFF UNDERGO MANDATORY ETHICS TRAINING
-
News20 hours agoFresh Ebola Scare As NCDC Records Two Cases
-
News20 hours ago
Customs Partners EFCC, NDLEA, Others To Tackle Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing
-
News4 days agoFG Must Address Nigerians’ Concerns On Reforms -Shettima …Warns Against Misuse of AI, Social Media