Ikanya Warns Against Imposition Of Candidates …As APC Prepares For LG Polls

From Left: INEC General Secretary, Chinwe Iduka, acting IG, Mr Solomon Arase, INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega and Force Public Relations Officer, CP Emmanuel Ojukwu during IG’s first visit to INEC headquarters in Abuja, recently.

Ahead of May 23 local
government council elections in Rivers State, the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, has warned APC leaders against imposing candidates on the party in all the 22 local government areas where the elections are scheduled to hold.
Chief Ikanya gave the warning last Friday during a meeting he held with some APC stakeholders from Andoni Local Government Area of the state, in Port Harcourt.
According to him, candidates for various positions into the 22 local government councils would emerge through free and fair primaries to be conducted by the party.
He assured aspirants for both chairmanship and councillorship positions of a level playing ground during the party’s primaries, saying handpicking or imposition of candidates by political godfathers would not be accepted.
The APC Chairman also assured APC  members in the state that the local government council polls would hold in spite of protest from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
He said the APC in the state decided to participate in the council election having found out that the time table released by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) conforms with the amended State Electoral Law.
“We are ready for the forthcoming local government elections, after finding out that, the RSIEC election guideline is in line with the state electoral laws.
“We want all APC members and stakeholders to go to their respective wards and alert our supporters concerning the local government elections, the election will hold, don’t allow any body to deceive you that the election will not holds” Chief Ikanya said.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has said it would not participate in the forthcoming local government elections in the state.
The spokesman of the party, Jerry Needam who disclosed this at the weekend, in Port Harcourt, said the scheduled local government election in the state was a ploy by Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi to rob the people of the state from their mandates on who represent them at the local government level.
He described the sudden announcement  of the local government council elections by RSIEC as APC agenda to rig its members into chairmanship and councillorship positions and thereby destabilise democracy in the state.

Enoch Epelle