Politics
Two ACN Groups Clash Over Leadership
Two opposing groups of the Action Congress of Nigeria in Rivers State clashed on Wednesday in Port Harcourt over leadership.
The Tide was informed that the two opposing groups were struggling over which of them controls the party in the state.
Sources informed our correspondent that the groups are loyal to the two governorship aspirants of the party, Dr. Abiye Sekibo and Dr. Itekena Michael Abel –Tariah.
It was alleged that Barrister Uche Okwukwu, the state caretaker committee chairman of of the party was beaten up and assaulted.
Sources claimed that Mr. Okwukwu was alleged to have attempted to connive with a group to hijack the leadership of the party.
Speaking with The Tide, the spokesman of the 23 local government chairmen of the party, Dr. Akolo Amonibia, accused the transition committee chairman, of allegedly sneaking materials for the purpose of rigging the state congress election.
Tariah also alleged that the transition committee members wanted to impose unpopular leaders on the party members and equally ignored the 60-40 per cent sharing formula agreement between the decampee supporters of Abiye Sekibo and the old members.
He, however, advised that the chairman and the committee members should be neutral by treating all party members with utmost fairness, as anything less, would be unacceptable to the party.
Speaking, the transition chairman of the party, Barr. Okwukwu said the issue of Dr. Abiye Sekibo and others wanting to hijack the leadership of the party was not the issue in contention.
He said Sekibo had only declared intention to join the party, stressing that it was agreed that he and his supporters should be welcomed into the party so as to help the party in the state.
He said there was no time the former Transport Minister declared to run for any election in the party, describing the rumours that he and others wanted to hijack the leadership of the party as false and unfounded.
When contacted, the party gubernatorial aspirant, Dr. Itekena Michael Abel-Tariah condemned the unfair disposition of the committee led by Barr. Okwukwu in the disrupted election.
He said ACN was known as a peaceful party, advising that those who dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the party should maintain and respect the peaceful disposition of the party and its rules and regulations.
The gubernatorial aspirant advised that the chairman of the transition committee, Barr. Okwukwu, should return all the materials for the exercise to the national secretariat of the party pending when the issue would be resolved amicably.
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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