With the All Progressives Congress, APC boycotting today’s local government poll, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP is set to sweep all available chairmanship and councillorship positions. However, the outcome is bound to be challenged by entrenched political interests.

By Egufe Yafugborhi

With All Progressives Congress, APC, the only visible opposition opting out of June 16 council polls in Rivers State, it is predictably a no contest for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, whose candidates are set to snap all 23 chairmanships and available councilorship seats.

The decision of the state chapter of the APC to stay away from today’s local government election is in line with the court case it instituted against Governor Nyesom Wike after he dissolved the local government councils days after he was sworn into office in May 2015.

Rotimi Amaechi

The Rotimi Amaechi administration had six days to its exit, that is on May 23, 2015 conducted local government elections in 22 of the 23 local government councils in the state. All council chairmanships and councilors were won by the APC and were inaugurated two days later, just four days before Amaechi stepped down from office.

Governor Wike following his inauguration had on June 8 dissolved the councils upon a resolution by the PDP dominated State House of Assembly on the claim that they were improperly conducted. The dissolution forced the council chairmen and councilors who had spent only two weeks in office before they were sacked to drag the governor to court.

That court case is yet to be decided and hence the decision of the APC not to participate in today’s election.

In the situation report on the lingering court battle, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in a sitting that lasted barely five minutes May 24 in Abuja, adjourned the matter brought before it by Wike, to determine whether elected council chairmen he sacked were entitled to be joined in the APC legal protest challenging the governor’s action.

The court in the adjournment, till December 18, 2018, had resolved that the Department of State Security, DSS, the 17th  respondent in the matter, be properly served by Wike. The APC and the sacked council chairmen had believed that the Supreme Court decision meant that the council polls would be shifted.

The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, however, interpreted it differently and thus decided to forge ahead with the polls set for today.

Reginald Ukwuoma, lawyer and one of the affected council chairmen, said, “The subject matter is same thing (council polls) they want to conduct. By every legal implication the matter is sub-judice and if they go ahead to do election contrary to the position of the law, it is a nullity.

“The implication in law is very, very clear that if a subject matter has not been disposed off you can’t tamper with it in any form. It is elementary (in law), but we know we are living in a state of anarchy where lawlessness prevails and the governor of the state is not given to the rule of law.”

On the contrary, Rivers Attorney General Aguma (SAN), said under the new law governing LG elections, nobody can stop local government elections. “This law works at the federal level.    Why won’t it work at the state level?” he asked.

According to him, section 62 (2) of the Rivers State Local Government Election was lifted from Section 87 (10) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), which bars the stoppage of elections.

Clear coast for PDP

With APC abstaining from the contest, the mood of campaigns between visibly unfazed PDP candidates and loudly obscure opposition parties’ candidates in the coming poll suggest the predictable outcome could be clean sweep for PDP.

RSIEC and Governor Wike in separate fora have played down the absence of APC on the ballot. Nevertheless, voters are yet to feel meaningful campaigns among the 66 other political parties accredited by the state electoral commission to contest the poll.

A Rivers political watcher who spoke to Vanguard said, “The challenge for the PDP over this LG election under Wike is not the fear of the opposition. In absence of APC, there is no opposition, forget the pretenders you hear displaying bravado in social media.

“Any candidate carrying the PDP flag in the coming LG polls is awaiting swearing in. The wild campaigns are sheer drama and part of a script from the appointment of RSIEC. PDP will take it all and face the ultimate challenge, which is to convince the courts that the outcome of the poll should not be a nullity due to the pending matter.”