Politics
RVHA Vows To Monitor LG CTCs
The Rivers State House of Assembly (RVHA) last week, held only one plenary session and public hearing, as well as an oversight function.
Last Tuesday, the House screened and confirmed nominees for Caretaker Committees (CTC) for 10 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and also okayed the re-nomination of members for 13 other LGAs.
Those confirmed were charged by the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon. Ikninyi-Owaji Ibani, to be proactive in discharging their statutory duties as soon as they were sworn in by Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.
Ibani reiterated the Assembly’s readinesss to monitor the activities of CTC chairmen and members of various LGAs as part of its over sight function in the state.
Also on Tuesday plenary session, the Assembly gave its nod to the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Service.
The Board chairman confirmed was Mr. ThankGod Adoge Nortee from Gokana LGA, while Mr Echward Mark (Ahhoada West), Mr. Chibuzor Ahoorlu (Port Harcourt) and Sofiri Ezekiel-Hart (Bonny) were okayed as Board members.
The Board chairman designate, Mr. Nortee promised to create a tax friendly atmosphere where all the tax payers would be relieved of multiple taxation.
The speaker expressed happiness with the calibre of nominees for the Board, charging them to bring their wealth of experiences to bear on the revenue generation effort of the state government to engender development.
Also same Tuesday, the Assembly deliberated on a bill to repeal the Rivers State Honours Awards law 2,000 and to re-enact the Rivers State Honours Law 2017.
The bill was tendered by the majority Leader of the House, Hon Martin Amaewhule at the Assembly’s plenarys session, and it was immediately passed for first reading at the floor of the House.
The bill entitled, Rivers State Honours Law, 2017, when passed into law, would provide the awards of the State Honours by Warrant made by the Governor of the State for matters connected there to.
The bill stipulates that the Governor of the State might confer Sate Honours in the name of the government and people of the state to any indigene, body, unit, association, corporation or any person in the State.
On Wednesday, the House Committee on Education headed by the lawmaker representing Degema Constituency, Hon. Farah Dagogo held public hearing to finally repeal and re-enact the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) Law Cap 133 Law of the Rivers State of Nigeria 1999.
Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Ikumyi-Owaji Ibani, represented by the majorty Leader of the House, Hon. Martin Amaewhule, declared the public hearing opened, saying the bill is an Executive Bill seeking to produce the much needed result-oriented scientific and Technical manpower for the State.
The public Hearing was attended by the both the management of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) and the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE), representative of the State Ministry of Justice Mrs Florence Fiberesima, Students Union Government of RSUST, ASUU, NANS handing among other stakeholders and dignitaries across the state.
Same Wednesday, the Assembly Committee on Environment, led by its Chairman, Hon. Christian Ahiakwo, interacted with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) at the corps command office in Port Harcourt.
At the session, Hon. Ahiakwo appealed to the NSCDC to employ alternative means of destroying illegal refineries and products instead of burning them as that was contributing to black soot currently being experienced in the state.
The committee Chairman also suggested, the option of handing over seized illegal petroleum products to the Nigeria National Petroelum Corporation (NNPC) to proper refining instead of destroying same.
The Rivers State commandant of NSCDC, Mohammed Lawal Haruma noted that all illegally refined products were adulterated hence it cannot in any way be re-refined to lawful consumption in the country and the global market.
Enoch Epelle
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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