Politics
LG Chairmen And Re-Election Fever
With the inauguration of a new Rivers State Electoral Commission forthnight ago, it is now clear that local government election will hold next year.
Among the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) led states, Rivers State seems to be in the lead in constitution of local councils. This posture exemplifies the posture of the state governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, who has given attention to grassroot governance and ensuring that democracy flourishes at all levels of government.
He told the eight member RSIEC- led by Justice George Omereji, to ensure that the LG election was done in compliance with the Local Government Law as amended.
The law provides that LG elections will be conducted every three years.
By June next year, the current local government chairmen and councillors will complete their first tenure. And with the pursuit of the elections there might be caretaker committee in the various councils for the transition period.
It’s against this backdrop that the governor counselled the new RSIEC to ensure there were no loopholes, as he reminded them that , “ some people will be looking for loopholes but do your work first.”
Mindful of antics and possible distraction by the opposition , especially the All Progressives Congress(APC), the governor urged the State Electoral body to be transparent and firm.
His charge is to ensure that all logistics and shortcomings of previous LG elections are curbed and at the same time make sure , the election is credible.
Against this backdrop, Chief Wike challenged them to be committed and focused to deliver on their mandate.
But while primaries are yet to be conducted by the parties, the major challenge now from The Tide investigations is the area of controversies surrounding the de- registration of some political parties.
Recall that shortly after 2019 elections some parties were de-registered.
Before now there used to be over 90 political parties. But the parties were trimmed down to 18. About 22 political parties affected by the axe of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) went to court.
The parties lost at the High Court but got judgement at the Court of Appeal which called for status quo.
According to the Rivers State Chairman of the Young Democratic Party(YDP), Ronarth Dappa, that is a big challenge.
“Currently only 18 parties are recognised, but the controversy is, will INEC accept the Court of Appeal’s ruling? ”Dappa querried.
Already, it was learnt that INEC has appealed the matter at the Supreme Court, “ and we are expecting a favourable outcome,” said the YDP chairman.
“Since RSIEC most times works with INEC template, it’s likely that it’s the 18 recognised political parties that will be in the ballot next year”, Dappa added.
Dappa’s YDP was de-registered, including 21 others who had participated in the last LG elections.
Another area of concern for stakeholders is in the selection of candidates and other internal party matters.
With this in view, the ruling PDP has announced its template for candidates who will qualify for primaries.
Though the primaries are yet to commenced the state chairman of the PDP, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, said that only performing LG chairmen might have the chance to contest for second term.
Though he said that would be determined by the people, he told a delegation led by Ikwerre LG Chairman, Engr Samuel Nwanosike during a courtesy call in his office in Port Harcourt, in September, that performance in the first tenure was key.
Akawor reiterated the same view when the leadership of a pro- PDP group, “Wike for Positive Change” visited him earlier this month.
He stressed that only local government chairmen with proven records of performance would be given a second chance and urged members of the party to await the decision of the party leadership before deciding on who to support during the governorship election.
According to him, the control of the third tier of government is being driven at the grassroots, hence all Local Government chairmen must ensure good governance touches their people.
The state PDP chairman opined that managing humans was a Herculean task, as he urged the Ikwerre LG Chairman to ensure all persons were carried along to ensure peace, order and development in the area.
The PDP chairman revealed that leadership of the respective local government areas would decide, and not the party, but that performance would be used as a factor to adjudge those fit for second term.
He blamed the opposition for the crisis in Ikwerre LGA, as he urged the council chairman to display tact and wisdom to ensure that the party remained united and free from crisis.
Consequently, many local government chairmen have begun frantic lobbying and networking on how to beat the hurdle, but the reality remains that happenings in the next few months will be key on who will fly the party’s flags in the primaries.
Though RSIEC is yet to unveil its election timetable, serious underground campaigns have begun by chairmen and other candidates to get endorsement from the party leadership before the primaries.