Politics
Akpabio Commends Wike’s Strides
Many prominent events dominated activities in Government House last week. Three among them took centre stage. The first was the Thanksgiving service and birthday of the Senator representing Rivers-East in the National Assesmbly, George Thompson Sekibo at Ogu Town in Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area.
During the church service in honour of Senator Sekibo, Chief Nyesom Wike addressed the congregation noting that, “Ogu people have been supporters of this administration right from the very beginning. They have always been with us and we shall always be with them.”
With a promise to complete the rehabilitation of the Government Secondary School, Ogu, Chief Wike, after the church service, went to inspect the level of work done at the site. He expressed satisfaction with the quality of work done by the contractors.
The Deputy Governor, Dr Ipalibo Harry-Banigo, in a statement penultimate Sunday, congratulated Senator Sekibo on the occasion of his diamond jubilee birthday. Last Monday, the governor in company of the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, visited some ongoing projects. The former Akwa-Ibom State governor was excited about Chief Wike’s developmental strides. Impressed with Wike’s efforts, Akpabio enthused, “Performance is not necessarily an issue of the availability of resources. If your state gets N5 billion, do projects of that amount… For Governor Wike, he has judiciously applied the scarce resources available to the state to develop needed infrastructure”.
Last Tuesday, the governor in the company of Senator George Thompson Sekibo visited project sites at the new market in Rumuokoro, the School of Nursing and the Ecumenical Centre. The governor was visibly exasperated by the delay that has overtaken the School of Nursing.
He said, “What I saw at the Rivers State School of Public Health Nursing is quite disappointing. The environment of the school is very unkempt, and the buildings are in bad condition”.
The usual State Executive Council meeting took place last Wednesday with the governor presiding. Shortly after the meeting Chief Wike went on project inspection. After visits to the Pleasure Park, Bonny/Bille/Nembe Jetty and State Ecumenical Centre he told newsmen that “the state is committed to prudent spending to cut waste and misappropriation of scarce resources”.
It was an this promise he explained that his administration was bent on awarding contracts to expatriate and competent, companies who will deliver quality jobs that will stand the test of time.
The governor was briefly in Abuja for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) reconciliation meeting presided by former President Goodluck Jonathan, last Thursday.
Last Friday, the governor hosted the African Bar Association Governing Board, the Supreme Council of Ikwerre Traditional Rulers and the Abuloma Chiefs Council.
He tasked the African Bar Association to advocate for the right of Nigerians and defend judges. Wike took exception to the recent persecution of judges by the APC-led Federal Government in the guise of fighting corruption. He commended Abuloma Chiefs for supporting his administration and promised that government will rehabilitate internal roads there.
For Ikwerre Traditional Rulers, Chief Wike called for mobilisation of their subjects to partake in the upcoming voters register revalidation exercise.
On the same Thursday, the deputy governor represented the governor at the Civil Servants Summit on the State Contributory Health Protection Programme. She explained that the scheme was designed to provide accessible and affordable healthcare services for the people.
The deputy governor in a statement also decried the spate of boundary dispute in the state.
Last Saturday, the governor took time to visit project sites at Ogbunabali internal roads rehabilitation exercise. Accompanied by former House Member, Tony Okeah and a prominent lawyer Joe Agi, the governor visited Pleasure Park and Airforce Interchange Beautification.
Kevin Nengia
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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