The Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara has revealed his insistence that the State’s Local Government election be held on Saturday, October 5, 2024. He said he wants to obey the Supreme Court judgment on Local Government autonomy.
Fubara made this disclosure on Thursday during a meeting with some stakeholders of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
Addressing the meeting, the Governor regretted that he is the greatest loser. This is because of the non-participation of PDP in the proposed election.
He said the election has to be held on Saturday to comply with the three months of grace given by the Federal Government.
Recall that Federal Government had warned that it would begin the implementation of the Supreme Court judgement on Local Government autonomy after three months.
If the LG election holds on October 5, Rivers State would have joined States to have conducted LG polls.
The Governor said, “You know this election, I am the greatest loser because my party is not participating. It is the truth!”
“Go, do what the law says you should do, as demanded by the RSIEC Law, and leave the rest. RSIEC will take it from there. And when RSIEC finishes its part, the State Government will also take it from that point and finish its part. And the process will all be consummated by the special grace of God in a few days.
“But because of the Supreme Court ruling that there must be elected officials to manage the affairs of Local Governments, as a Governor, I have to obey that.
“And a good number of you here are my party faithful. You are not even benefiting from it, but you are here supporting us. So, what is the problem?
“So, I want to thank you for supporting democracy. I want to thank you for ensuring that there is a rule of law. I want to thank you for sticking your neck out to make sure that Rivers State still stands among the comity of States.”
The Governor insisted that the election will have only those residents in the state who are registered voters participating.
Fubara also appealed to residents of the State to return to their various LGAs to cast their votes. He urged them to follow the process, be law-abiding, and eschew violence during and after the election.
source: Channels TV
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