Politics
Assembly To Support RSG Tackle Unemployment
The Rivers State House of Assembly (RVHA), has said that it would support the State Government with relevant laws aimed at tackling unemployment and restiveness, especially among youths in the State.
Speaker of the State Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ikunyi-Owaji Ibani stated this while answering questions from newsmen shortly after he was presented with his Certificate of Return (CoR) by the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Obo Effanga in Port Harcourt.
Ibani stated that creating employment opportunities and improving the wellbeing of the people is one way of solving issues of restiveness in the state, promising that the lawmakers will give it the needed attention.
According to him: “The social condition of the people especially the youths is such that the Assembly must look into. The government should be able do that which will generate employment for the teeming youths in the state. So that as part of our deliberate and conscious effort we will also join in solving the problem of youth restiveness in the state.
“This is one area we have to look into and do something as quickly as possible. We will do what is required to ensure that as we do that as we tap the present, the future is assured even for generations unborn,” the Speaker said.
Meanwhile, the lawmaker elect for Degema Constituency in the State House, Hon. Anthony Soberekon has promised that he would ensure his constituents feel the dividends of democracy.
Soberekon who stated this while speaking to newsmen after he received his CoR from INEC said his basic responsibility as a lawmaker is effective representation aimed at promoting my people and supporting the state government
He stated, “My basic responsibility is representation to see how my constituency and indeed the people of Rivers State will benefit from the government that is going to be in place in the next four years. I am going to make in my little capacity to see that any constituency project that is due us is carried out and completed as at when due to bring the dividends of democracy to the people.
“Like the Governor said, when I won the election and I was retuned I told the people of my constituency that everyone I have offended one way or the other should forgive me and on my part I also told those who have offended me because it is time to come together, work together to move the constituency and indeed Rivers State forward,” Hon. Soberekon stated.
On the performance of INEC in the just concluded 2019 general elections, he lauded the commission for its doggedness, saying, “despite the pressures that came their way they stood their ground and today we have reaped the result of the credible election they conducted.”
Stories by Dennis Naku
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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