Politics
As PDP, APC Battle Over LG Polls In Rivers
Cross section of Chairmen Caretaker Committees taking their oath of office at the swearing-in at Government House, Port Harcourt recently. Photo: Chris Monyanaga
Tuesday, September 16,
2014, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi inaugurated caretaker committee chairmen of 21 local government councils in Rivers State at Government House with an assurance that democratically-elected officials will run the councils in Rivers State next year. This is the second time caretaker committees would be made to oversee the affairs of the local government councils since the tenure of the democratically-elected council officials expired in June.
Out of the former CTC chairmen, seven of them including those of Opobo/Nkoro, Oyigbo, Obio/Akpor, Omuma, Bonny and Emohua local government areas were retained, while new CTC chairmen were appointed into 14 councils Only Degema and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government areas were exempted as the tenure of their chairmen is still running.
While inaugurating the CTC chairmen, Governor Amaechi said the State would organise LG elections immediately after the national elections. While charging the new CTC chairmen to serve the interest of the grassroot, the State Chief Executive sounded a note of warning that any of them found wanting will risk removal.
The newly inaugurated CTC have since begun work in their respective councils, but the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State is crying foul and not happy that caretaker committees are still holding forth in the LGAs about three months after the tenure of the democratically-elected council officials expired. The party is equally worried that there are no hope of conducting polls at the third tier of government in the State before 2014 runs out.
Rivers PDP disagreed with Amaechi’s decision to conduct council polls next year immediately after the 2015 national elections. The PDP attributed Governor Amaechi’s decision to use caretaker committees instead of conducting council elections to the fear of defeat at the local government polls.
In a statement signed by the Special Adviser on Media to the party chairman, Jerry Needam, the Rivers PDP, challenged the state governor to a popularity contest through the conduct of council elections.
PDP had been the ruling party in Rivers State since 1999, but with the defection of Governor Amaechi, his executive and majority of the lawmakers at the State House of Assembly to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the PDP lost its ruling status. Providing a critical searchlight on the activities of now APC-led government in the State is seen by PDP as a better instrument to position and launch itself back to political reckoning.
If there are doubts about the worry of Rivers PDP and what it plans to do in feasible future, the following statements said it all.
“The PDP regrets that it is the local government councils and the people that are at loss for not getting the leadership they deserve and by extension, are underdeveloped. We are on ground and ever prepared to engage Governor Amaechi and his All Progressives Congress in a free and fair electoral contest any day and are sure of coasting home in a landslide victory because we are genuine, caring, articulate and purposeful,” the statement added.
While PDP may be celebrating for taking APC and the Amaechi administration to task, Dr Davies Ibiamu Ikanya-led APC in Rivers State, fired back at the PDP.
In a statement in Port Harcourt, Ikanya blamed the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesome Wike and the lingering political crisis in the State for the delay in the conduct of local government elections in the state.
Apart from alleging that Wike engineered the political crisis in the state which has made it impossible for the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to conduct council polls, Ikanya insists that “the non-conduct of the council elections in the State is not out of the fear of anybody or out of the fear of losing to PDP but for the sake of peace.”
Ikanya said the clarification has become necessary to correct the propaganda by Rivers PDP that Governor Amaechi did not conduct local government elections because he was afraid of defeat. Many may wonder why APC involved. The State APC Chairman alleged that Wike’s unseen hand manipulated the National Judicial Council (NJC) to favour the choice of Justice Daisy Okocha as the State Chief Judge instead of allowing the governor to exercise his constitutional powers to appoint a chief judge in the State in line with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“That was the genesis of the crisis in the Judiciary in Rivers State. This has incapacitated judicial activities in the State. The fact remains that you cannot conduct elections without the judiciary because without a chief judge of the State who is expected to constitute an election tribunal to handle petitions that may arise after the elections, such polls would be an exercise in futility,” the APC chairman said.
Ikanya added that “if the PDP is actually serious about meeting its waterloo in the council elections in the state, it should prevail on Wike to stop the judicial crisis in the State by asking the NJC to allow the governor to exercise his constitutional powers to appoint the most qualified judge as the Chief Judge of the State.”
Like PDP, the APC also boasted that “if election is conducted today, the PDP would not win any councillorship position in any of the local government areas of the State.”
Justifying why Governor Amaechi cannot succumb to PDP’s challenge of conducting LG polls, this year Ikanya said “the governor, as a man who has great respect for the laws of the land, cannot engage in an exercise that would be stalled halfway just because he wants to satisfy a non-existing party like PDP in the State.”
Beyond the issue of the council polls that have engaged both PDP and APc in war of words, the issue of who takes over from incumbent Governor Amaechi lies the intense agitation in the politics of Rivers State.
While the concern of Rivers men and women is raging without measure about who gets the governorship ticket of PDP, the same cannot be said of who becomes the State APC gubernatorial flagbearer. Right now, no fewer than 10 aspirants with posters are known to be jostling for the PDP governorship ticket, but nobody has formally declared governorship interest under the APC platform.
But the body languages of two APC Rivers members at the National Assembly, however, indicate that they may be eyeing the Rivers Brick House.
Whether PDP is “sure of coasting home in a landslide victory when election is conducted in Rivers State” or the APC believes that “the PDP cannot win councillorship seat in any of the local government areas,” the factor remains that tomorrow’s political race has begun in earnest and it takes the runner on the fast lane to arrive the destination point with good results. Which party gets the good result and picks the political crown of glory – PDP or APC? Only time will tell.
Samuel Eleonu
Cross section of Chairmen Caretaker Committees taking their oath of office at the swearing-in at Government House, Port Harcourt recently. Photo: Chris Monyanaga
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday brushed aside the order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which ordered him to stay proceedings in a suit that sought deregistration of the African Democratic Party (ADC), Accord Party and three others.
The Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision of a panel of three Justices had on May 22, 2026 directed the Federal High Court Judge not to proceed with the suit until an appeal pending before them and filed by Accord Party is resolved.
In a Certified True Copy Enrol Order of the Superior Court, Justices Mohammed Danjuma, Adebukola Banjoko and Oyejoju Oyewumi asked the lower Court Judge to stay proceedings until all issues on the appeal filed by the Accord Party were resolved
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State had, through the Accord Party, applied to justice Lifu to join him as a defendant in the deregistration legal battle instituted by a group of former legislators.
The contention of the Osun State governor was that he had a stake in the Accord Party, being the platform he was seeking re-election in the August 15 gubernatorial poll in the state.
In his ruling, Justice Lifu on April 27 ruled against the Osun State governor, rejecting his request to be joined in the suit to defend his own position and interest.
Not satisfied with the Federal High Court decision, the Osun State governor, through his lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), moved to the Court of Appeal in Abuja where he challenged the Justice Lifu decision to refuse to allow him join the suit.
After listening to the argument canvassed, especially that he has interest to protect as Accord Party gubernatorial candidate for Osun State governorship election, the three Justices of the Court of Appeal, unanimously directed Justice Lifu to allow them look into the grievances of the governor.
In specific terms, the Court of Appeal Justices directed Justice Lifu not to proceed further with the matter and fixed October 27 to determine the interlocutory appeal of the appellant.
However, when the certified enroll order and notice of appeal were served on Justice Peter Lifu by Mr Adetunbi (SAN), the judge rejected it on the ground that it was a ploy to arrest his judgment in the matter.
Although the judge had adjourned his judgment delivery in the matter indefinitely, he finally made a dramatic turn around on Monday and proceeded to deliver the judgment that has now proscribed the five political parties.
Actor turned politician, Mr Kenneth Okonkwo, has rejected the choice of former Rivers State Governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, as the running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a statement on Monday, Mallam Bolaji Abdulllahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, announced the party’s choice of Mr Amaechi.
However in a statement, Mr Okonkwo said that the choice of Mr Amaechi from the South South strengthens the continued marginalization of people from the South East.
According to the former spokesperson of the Labour Party, any arrangement that would not factor a person from the South East either as president or vice president in the party is anti-Igbo.
He contended that Chief Raph Nwosu, who founded the ADC in 2005 and willingly surrendered it’s leadership to Senator David Mark did not do so to entrench Igbo marginalization in the party.
The former actor said: “I heard from the social media that ADC has picked its vice presidential candidate from the South-South. If this is true, it is unfortunate, as this will continue the crude marginalisation of the South-East.
“This geo-political zone has neither produced a president or vice president since 1999. To deny the South-East the opportunity to produce the president or vice president in the ADC in 2027, will amount to perpetuating the marginalisation.
“The ADC was founded by Ralphs Nwosu from the South-East in 2005. He made the sacrifice to give up the party in 2025 for the coalition to usher in a better Nigeria. He couldn’t have made that sacrifice to marginalise his own people.
“I did not join the coalition to assist in marginalisation of my own people further. I am of the opinion that if we made a sacrifice to give up the national chairman and the president, it will amount to unpardonable injustice to deny us the vice president in 2027.
“I joined politics to fight for a better Nigeria where no region, geo-political zone, or person will be marginalised.
“The only favour I asked Atiku Abubakar, who openly declared that he is the pathway to the presidency of the South-East, is to show it by choosing someone from the South-East to be his vice.
“If it is confirmed that he has chosen a candidate from the South-South, I wish him well. I am not favourably disposed to campaigning for any presidential ticket that does not have a person of South-East origin as president or vice in 2027”
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, on Monday said that the numerous projects being executed by President Bola Tinubu across the states in the southeast will give him upper hand over other presidential candidates during next year’s general elections.
Prof. Yilwatda stated this at the Abakaliki Township Stadium during a mega rally organized by the Ebonyi State government and Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, during which President Tinubu and other APC candidates for the 2027 general elections were adopted.
According to the APC National Chairman, no President had done for the southeast region what President Tinubu has done for them and expressed the confidence that the president would not only win in Ebonyi State but in the entire South East.
Prof. Yilwatda also used the occasion to address growing insinuations in some quarters that Ebonyi State had been conceded to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Dismissing the claim, Prof. Yilwatda said the state would not allow the PDP to win any position in the forthcoming general election.
“We will return President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Francis Nwifuru as Governor of Ebonyi State in 2027.
“We want to return all APC senators, members of the House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates in 2027.
“Nobody has conceded Ebonyi to the PDP. Therefore, there is no vacancy in Ebonyi State. Ebonyi PDP has no place, and there is no vacancy at all in the Government House come 2027,” the APC National Chairman declared.
He commended the people of the state for their support for President Tinubu and urged them to re-elect him in the next presidential election in appreciation of what he has done for the state and the entire South-East through infrastructural transformation and human capital development.
Governor Francis Nwifuru, who also spoke at the event, said the state had no other presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections apart from President Tinubu.
He declared that Ebonyi remained a stronghold of the APC and vowed that the party would deliver the President in the state.
Gov. Nwifuru said President Tinubu had shown exceptional commitment to the state and deserved total support for appointing Senator Umahi as Minister of Works, a role he said Senator Umahi had performed creditably.
“Ebonyi has no other presidential candidate apart from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and we will return him in the presidential election.
“We are standing here today to tell the whole world, especially those using the President’s name to orchestrate division and confusion in this great state, that we have only one party, and that is the APC.
“This statement became necessary because some people are going around claiming they have discussed with Mr President and that he has handed Ebonyi over to the PDP. They are also saying that Chief Nyesom Wike is their leader and that Wike said the President has given Ebonyi to him.
“Ebonyi is not for sale. We are restraining ourselves because the people are with us. Nobody should push us because we have what it takes to confront anyone trying to destabilise us.
“We want to tell Mr President that he has earned our votes. He gave us what we had never had in Eastern Nigeria — the office of the Minister of Works. And this Minister of Works is not sitting idle; he is working,” he stated.
Senator Umahi, in his remarks, said President Tinubu had done what no other President had done for Ebonyi State and the entire South-East by executing numerous projects across the state and the region.
“Ebonyi State is a one-party state under Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru. We are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done a lot, not just for Ebonyi State but for the entire South-East and other geopolitical zones,” he said.